NAVYPEDIA

Photo

Independencia 1965

Ships

Name	No	Yard No	Builder	Laid down	Launched	Comp	Fate
Independencia (ex-Warrior)	V1	1224	Harland & Wolff, Belfast, UK	12.12.1942	20.5.1944	14.3.1946 // 8.7.1959	sold 3.1971
Veinticinco de Mayo (25 de Mayo) (ex-Karel Doorman, ex-Venerable)	V2	1126	Cammell Laird, Birkenhead, UK	3.12.1942	30.12.1943	17.1.1945 // 8.10.1968	stricken 2.1997

Technical data

Displacement standard, t	V1: 13350 V2: 15892
Displacement full, t	V1: 18300 V2: 19896
Length, m	192.0 pp 211.2 oa
Breadth, m	24.4 wl V2: 24.4 wl 36.9 fd
Draught, m	V1: 7.09 deep load V2: 7.60
No of shafts	2
Machinery	2 sets Parsons geared steam turbines, 4 Admiralty 3-drum boilers
Power, h. p.	V1: 40000 V2: 42000
Max speed, kts	V1: 25 V2: 24
Fuel, t	V1: oil 3196 V2: oil 3200
Endurance, nm(kts)	12000(14)
Armament	V1: 1 x 4 - 40/60 Mk 2, 9 x 2 - 40/60 Mk 1, 22 aircraft (F4U Corsair fighters) V2: 12 x 1 - 40/70 Bofors Mod 1958, 22 aircraft (S-2A Tracker ASW planes, SH-34J helicopters)
Electronic equipment	V1: type 277, type 279, SPS-6C radars V2: LW-01, LW-02, DA-01, 2x VI-01, ZW-01 radars
Complement	V1: 1300 V2: 1500

Air group

Year	Fighters	Attackers	ASW planes	Training, cargo planes	Helicopters
1960, Independencia	20 F4U Corsair	---	---	4 SNJ	---
1966, Independencia	---	14 T-28 Trojan	6 S-2A Tracker	---	4 HSS-1
1982, 25 de Mayo	---	8 A-4Q Skyhawk	4 S-2A Tracker	---	4 SH-3D Sea King
1984, 25 de Mayo	3 Super Étendard	9 A-4Q Skyhawk	4 S-2E Tracker	1 US-2A Tracker	4 SH-3D Sea King

Standard scale images

Graphics

Aircraft facilities

V1: (fd - 5,131m², ha - 2,142m² / 11,355m³): Flight deck: 210.3x24.4m; hangar: 135.6x15.8x 5.3m. Two lifts: 13.7x10.4m, 6.8t. 1 catapult BH-III (6.4t plane was launched at 122km/h). Aircraft fuel stowage: 448,200l.

V2(fd ~ 6,500 m², ha - 2,142m² / 11,355m³): Flight deck: 210.3x36.9m; hangar: 138.7x15.8x 5.3m. Two lifts: 13.7x10.4m, 6.8t. 1 catapult BH-III (6.4t plane was launched at 122km/h). Aircraft fuel stowage: 448,200l.

Project history

Independencia was purchased from Great Britain in June 1958, in part with funds from the sale of the battleships Moreno and Rivadavia and of the armoured cruiser Pueyrredon. The carrier had been modernized in 1952-53, at which time she received a lattice mast and an enlarged bridge. Three years later she underwent another major refit, being fitted with a 5° angled deck. She was insulated for tropical service and partially air-conditioned. On 6 August 1958 she was named Independencia; on 4 November 1958 the Argentine flag was raised in Portsmouth; on 8 June 1959 the first Argentine naval aircraft operated from her decks; and on 8 July 1959 she commissioned.

An extensive boiler room fire caused the Karel Doorman to be prematurely decommissioned from Dutch service, but she was extensively rebuilt at Wilton Fijenoord Shipyard and purchased by Argentina. Her boilers were replaced with ones from an uncompleted near-sister, Leviathan. She commissioned in the Argentine Navy on 8 October 1968 and embarked her first aircraft on 3 September 1969.

Veinticinco de Mayo was air-conditioned. In 1972, Argentina acquired sixteen A-4Q Skyhawks, which have been the backbone of the carrier's air complement, which also includes four S-2As and two helicopters. In 1979, her flight deck was rebuilt and the area increased, two airplane parking positions were added.

Protection

There were mantlets around aircraft torpedoes warheads rooms only. Their thickness was 10mm. Longitudinal watertight bulkheads covered the machinery.

Modernizations

1981, 25 de Mayo: - 2 x 1 - 40/70, DA-01 radar; + DA-05 radar, CAAIS CCS area of flying deck was slightly enlarged.

1983, 25 de Mayo: - 1 x 1 - 40/70, CAAIS CCS; + SEWACO CCS

1980s, 25 de Mayo: - LW-01, 2x VI-01, DA-05 radars; + LW-08, DA-08, Decca RM1226, VI-109, MM/SPN-720 radars

Naval service

Independencia was placed in reserve in 1970.

In 1982 25 de Mayo was used in the Falklands conflict. A typical aircraft complement during the months from March to May was eight Skyhawks, four Trackers, and a few general purpose helicopters. The Super Étendard attack aircraft, five of which had arrived in Argentina in the autumn of 1981, could not operate from the carrier. 25 de Mayo was inoperative from June 1986 due to problems with machinery.