Editing HMS Implacable (R86) (section)

===Post-war===
[[File:The Royal Navy during the Second World War A30361.jpg|thumb|left|Aerial view of ''Implacable'' as she arrived at Sydney after the end of the war]]
She arrived at Sydney on 24 August, and had her hangars refitted to accommodate Allied PoWs and soldiers for repatriation. Having left her air group behind to maximize the numbers of passengers she could carry, the ship arrived at [[Manila]] on 25 September, where she loaded over 2,000 British, American and Canadian PoWs. She dropped off the Americans at [[Pearl Harbor]] on 5 October and continued on to deliver British and Canadian passengers at Vancouver six days later. Opened for public tours, ''Implacable'' remained for a week before sailing to [[Hong Kong]] to pick up several hundred PoWs and continued onwards to Manila to load 2,114 more passengers. She delivered them to [[Balikpapan]], [[Borneo]], for transhipment to Britain. In their place the carrier embarked 2,126 men of the [[7th Australian Division]], and their equipment, to return to Australia. She arrived at Sydney on 17 November and sailed on 8 December to load more returning troops from Papua New Guinea. Arriving back at Sydney before Christmas, the ship had her additional bunks, etc., removed to return her to operational status.<ref>Hobbs 2011, pp. 331–336</ref>

[[File:HMS Implacable (R-86).jpg|thumb|''Implacable'' at sea in 1946]]
In January 1946 her air group flew aboard, minus the disbanded 880 Squadron, and with [[1790 Naval Air Squadron|1790 Squadron]] replacing 1771 Squadron. After several days of flying exercises, ''Implacable'' made a port visit to [[Melbourne]] together with her sister ''Indefatigable'' and several other ships. She became the flagship of Vice Admiral Sir [[Philip Vian]], the newly appointed second in command of the BPF on 31 January. She continued a relaxed schedule of training and port visits until she began a refit on 15 March in Sydney, that lasted until 29 April, when she put to sea to fly on her aircraft and to dump overboard the 16 Lend-Lease Avengers belonging to 828 Squadron (Britain had to either pay for them or dispose of them with the end of the war, and lacked the means to do the former). She sailed for home on 5 May and reached [[HMNB Devonport|Devonport]] on 3 June, where Vian struck his flag.<ref>McCart, pp. 177–178</ref>

''Implacable'' became the deck-landing training carrier for the Home Fleet when she next put to sea in August. On 25 September Captain [[Aubrey Mansergh]] assumed command of the ship. Two months later she participated in an exercise with the Home Fleet and was lightly damaged when she collided with the [[light carrier]] {{HMS|Vengeance|R71|2}} while docking in Devonport on 7 November. On 1 February 1947, she joined the other ships of the Home Fleet as they rendezvoused with the battleship {{HMS|Vanguard|23|2}}, which was serving as the [[royal yacht]] to escort [[George VI|King George VI]] as he set out for the first royal tour of South Africa. ''Implacable'' hosted the king and his family on 7 February, staging a small air show for them after which the queen addressed the crew. After leaving the royals, she made port visits at [[Freetown]], [[Sierra Leone]], and [[Dakar]], [[Senegal]] before arriving in the Western Mediterranean for more training. Arriving home on 7 March, she began a lengthy refit at Rosyth on 17 April.<ref>McCart, pp. 179–180, 182</ref>

[[File:HMS Implacable 1947 deck.jpg|left|thumb|''Implacable'' in 1947]]
Upon its completion in October 1947 she embarked [[813 Naval Air Squadron|813 Squadron]], flying [[Blackburn Firebrand]] TF.5s, and resumed training. Captain [[John Stevens (Royal Navy officer)|John Stevens]] relieved Mansergh on 9 February 1948, as the latter had been promoted. In June and July, the ship participated in a series of demonstrations for students in the Royal Navy's [[staff college]]. Among these was the first carrier landing by a [[Gloster Meteor]] jet-powered fighter, flown by [[Lieutenant-Commander]] [[Eric Brown (pilot)|Eric Brown]], landings by prototypes of the [[Westland Wyvern]] and [[Short Sturgeon]], rocket firing by Fireflies and an "attack" on ''Implacable'' by [[motor torpedo boat]]s. She completed a 10-week refit on 10 November and resumed deck-landing practices. She sailed for Gibraltar on 27 February 1949 and 801 Squadron flew aboard on 5 March with its [[de Havilland Hornet|de Havilland Sea Hornet]]s, the day after she arrived there. Admiral Sir [[Rhoderick McGrigor]], commander-in-chief of Home Fleet, hoisted his flag aboard the carrier on 6 March before beginning a short exercise with some of the other ships of Home Fleet. She made port visits in Oslo and Bergen, Norway, in June, hosting King [[Haakon VII of Norway|Haakon VII]]. While berthed at [[HMNB Portsmouth|Portsmouth]], King [[Abdullah I of Jordan]] visited on 19 August and the [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]], [[Clement Attlee]] visited 10 days later. [[702 Naval Air Squadron|702 Squadron]] flew aboard with seven [[de Havilland Sea Vampire]]s in September to conduct carrier evaluations with the new fighter jets that lasted until 11 November. McGrigor was relieved by Admiral Vian ten days later.<ref>McCart, pp. 182–185</ref>

''Implacable'' spent February and March 1950 training in the Western Mediterranean and Captain H. W. Briggs assumed command on 1 April. She resumed flight training in the Irish Sea and off the western coast of Scotland until she made a port visit to [[Copenhagen]] in mid-July. King [[Frederik IX of Denmark]] inspected the ship on 18 July and Admiral Vian transferred his flag to ''Vanguard'' on 11 September.<ref>McCart, p. 185</ref> Two days later she was placed in reserve and slowly converted into a training ship by the addition of extra accommodation and classrooms.<ref name="h0" /> During this time she was considered for a major reconstruction that would combine her two hangars into a single hangar with a height of {{convert|17|ft|6|in}} and allow her to operate {{convert|30000|lb|kg|adj=on}} aircraft. In addition her armament would be modernised and the fuel supply for her aircraft would be more than doubled. A similar reconstruction was then in progress for ''Victorious'', but it proved to be much more expensive than planned and also took more time than had been estimated. Short of both time and money for the project, the Admiralty cancelled the modernisation in June 1952.<ref>Friedman, pp. 305–311</ref>

''Implacable'' was recommissioned on 16 January 1952 as the flagship of the Home Fleet Training Squadron.<ref name="h1" /> On 13 February she arrived at [[Dover]] to serve as the port's [[guard ship]] before and after the state funeral of King George VI, to salute royalty and heads of state arriving by sea. After its conclusion, the ship sailed for the western Mediterranean to rendezvous with her sister for exercises. In June the two sisters represented a fast troop convoy being attacked by aircraft during an air defence exercise. They visited Copenhagen in the next month before returning home. ''Implacable'' sailed for Gibraltar on 25 September and made a port visit to [[Lisbon]], [[Portugal]], before returning to Devonport for a refit. On 16 November she had an oil fire in her [[galley (kitchen)|galley]] that damaged her electrical wiring badly enough to require extending her refit to 20 January 1953. She spent most of February and March in the western Mediterranean together with her sister, participating in exercises before sailing to [[Southampton]] for a brief refit.<ref>McCart, pp. 185–187</ref>

For the [[Fleet review (Commonwealth realms)#Elizabeth II|Coronation Fleet Review]] of [[Elizabeth II|Queen Elizabeth II]] on 15 June, she flew the flag of Vice Admiral John Stevens, her former commanding officer, now Flag Officer, Home Fleet Training Squadron. On 5 September Rear Admiral H. L. F. Adams relieved Stevens and the ship joined ''Indefatigable'' for fleet exercises off the [[Scilly Isles]] and in the [[Bristol Channel]] the following month. She ferried the 1st [[Battalion]], [[Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders]] from Devonport to [[Trinidad]] in response to a crisis in [[British Guiana]], and transported a battalion of the [[Royal Welch Fusiliers]] from Trinidad to [[Jamaica]] in October, returning home on 11 November. On 19 August 1954, she was relieved as flagship by the light carrier {{HMS|Theseus|R64|2}}.<ref>McCart, p. 189</ref>