HMS Vengeance Appeal

The fate of the last surviving British built aircraft carrier from the Second World War is due to be decided during the next few days.

The former HMS Vengeance has ended her days in Rio where she will be scrapped unless money can be raised to return her to Britain.For Breakfast, Tom Gibb reports from Brazil

click here to go straight to the HMS Vengeance Appeal website

Beneath Rio's statue of Christ the ship awaits her fate.

Unless someone comes up with the money to save her, she'll be sold to scrap merchants.

For the last forty years she's been the flagship of the Brazilian navy under the name the Minas Gerais. But she was built to go to war.

"She's operating like a new ship... I think the Vengeance deserves to be a sort of example."

Vice-Admiral Helios Leonicio Martins

After being launched in 1944, she sailed to Asia as part of the British navy in the war against Japan. She later took part in the Korean war - under the Australian flag - before being sold to the Brazilian navy.

Former veterans like the first Brazilian captain of the ship - who fought in the second world war alongside the British - would like to see her preserved.

Brazilian sailors keep Vengeance seaworthy

A small Brazilian crew is still keeping her seaworthy. Equipment on the Bridge is intact.

The room where pilots would have heard their last briefing before going into combat more than fifty years ago has changed little. The ship still has the lifts for bringing the aircraft up onto the deck

In Britain, veterans who served on HMS Vengeance, are helping with a campaign to raise money to bring her back home. They believe they can make a viable venture out of turning her into a museum.

Unique
"She's very unique as the Japanese signed the surrender of Hong Kong on her.

She could be a living memorial to all those who served in the fleet air arm, not just on the Vengeance, " says James Watling, Chairman of the HMS Vengeance Association

But time is running out. The Brazilian navy say they cannot afford to keep her idle in Rio harbour for much longer. In which case this last survivor from the second world war will end up being turned into scrap.