Editing Centaur-class aircraft carrier (section)

==Development==
Britain hoped to order eight light fleet carriers in 1943 to supplement the {{sclass|Malta|aircraft carrier}}. Matters were complicated by the demand to operate larger and higher performing aircraft; at the end of 1942, the Joint Technical Committee recommended that carriers be able to operate {{convert|30,000|lbs|kg}} aircraft with a landing speed of {{convert|75|kn|km/h}}. A new light carrier design was required as the {{sclass|Majestic|aircraft carrier}} could not be modified to handle the new requirements; it became the first British carrier design to be dominated by aircraft operations.<ref name="hobbs_2014_ch25">Hobbs 2014: chapter 25: Hermes class</ref> A sketch design was prepared by the end of May 1943, and the final design was approved in March 1944; it was revised in 1947.{{sfn|Friedman|1988|p=267}}

Eight of the new light carriers were ordered in 1943. It quickly became apparent that wartime demands on shipyard capacity made it impossible to complete the ships in 1946. Only three - ''[[HMS Albion (R07)|Albion]]'', ''[[HMS Centaur (R06)|Centaur]]'', ''Elephant'' - started construction in 1944; ''[[HMS Bulwark (R08)|Bulwark]]'' started in 1945; the remainder were cancelled on 15 October 1945 with ''Elephant'' being renamed ''[[HMS Hermes (R12)|Hermes]]'' after one of the cancelled ships.<ref name="hobbs_2014_ch25"/> The remainder were completed in the 1950s<ref name="hobbs_2014_ch25"/><ref name="hobbs_2014_ch28">Hobbs 2014: chapter 28: The reconstruction – Victorious, Hermes and Eagle</ref>

The cost of modernisation saw the ships diverge in capability even before completion. ''Albion'' and ''Bulwark'' were completed with interim angled flight decks and hydraulic catapults. They were not modernised to operate modern aircraft, instead being converted into [[Amphibious assault ship|helicopter assault ship]]s ("commando carriers").<ref name="hobbs_2014_ch25"/> ''Centaur'' was partially modernised with steam catapults{{sfn|Friedman|1988|p=267}}{{sfn|Friedman|1988|p=312}} shortly after being commissioned<ref name="hobbs_2014_ch25"/> and limited to operating mainly [[de Havilland Sea Vixen]] fighters until retirement in 1965.<ref name="hobbs_2014_ch25"/>{{sfn|Friedman|1988|p=312}} ''Hermes'' was the last ship completed - in 1959 - and the only one to be fully modernised.<ref name="hobbs_2014_ch28"/> Her career as a conventional carrier ended in 1970 while operating Sea Vixens and [[Blackburn Buccaneer]]s;{{sfn|Dyson|1984|p=68}} afterwards, she served as a helicopter carrier and then as a [[V/STOL]] carrier operating [[Sea Harrier]] fighters. ''Hermes'' was sold to [[India]] as {{INS|Viraat}}, and continued to operate Sea Harriers from 1987<ref name="hobbs_2014_ch28"/> until retiring in 2017.<ref name="in_viraat"/>