Time running out for warship

HMS Vengeance languishes in the bay at Rio

By Tom Gibb BBC Brazil correspondent

Under the gaze of Rio de Janeiro's famous statue of Christ, the last surviving British aircraft carrier from World War II lies waiting to see if she will be saved or broken up for scrap.

The former HMS Vengeance was one of a generation of ships which dominated the naval battles of that world war - playing a vital role in the Allied victory.

Groups of veterans would like to bring her back to Britain to be turned into a permanent museum and memorial but they lack the cash necessary to buy the ship.

'Memorial'

"She is unique," said James Watling, who served on the Vengeance in the British Royal Navy.

"This was the ship on which the Japanese signed the surrender of Hong Kong.

"For that reason she deserves to be preserved as a memorial to those of the Fleet air arm who died."

After her launch in 1944, the Vengeance sailed to Asia to become part of the British Pacific fleet and take part in the invasion of Japan.

After fifty years this is the only one - all of them are destroyed

Admiral Leoncio
Brazilian captain

But the atomic bomb ended the war before the bombs and torpedoes of her planes had to be used in anger.

She was later on loan to the Australian Royal Navy for the Korean War before being transferred to become the flagship of the Brazilian navy under a new name - the Minas Gerais.

Admiral Helio Leoncio Martins, the first Brazilian captain of the ship, remembers how there was a thick fog over the Solent on the first day of trials in Britain to test the ship's capability to use aircraft following a refit.

The British senior officer he was liaising with said that it would not be a good idea to sail that day.

'Like new'

But Admiral Leoncio, who fought for three years during World War II - running convoys from Brazil into the Atlantic - insisted on this.

He said the ship had all the necessary equipment to navigate through the mist.

Afterwards the British officer apologised, saying it was the first time they had sold an aircraft carrier to Latin America.

"From then on they respected us as seamen," chuckled the admiral, who is now 88 and lives in Rio close to Copacabana beach.

He and many other Brazilian officers would like to see the ship preserved.

Time running out

"She's operating like a new ship.

"After fifty years this is the only one - all of them are destroyed.

"That's why I think she deserves to be a sort of example."

Certainly everything on the ship is working.

The navigation equipment is intact on the bridge and the briefing room where pilots would have received the last orders before missions is much as it would have been 50 years ago.

Museum plan

The lifts to bring aircraft on deck still function - although the lower deck where the aircraft were once stowed now has goals at either end to form an almost full-sized football pitch.

The deadline for offers to buy the ship is this week.

But the British groups are still well short of the amount needed to take the Vengeance across the Atlantic.

Costs mean the ship would have to be towed for its last voyage although the Brazilians say it could be made ready to make the last re-entry to Britain under its own power.

One idea is to moor the former HMS Vengeance close to the Cutty Sark on the Thames near Greenwich.

There is a second proposal to keep the ship in Rio as a museum but that is also short of money and time is running out.

A number of scrap merchants want to buy the ship and the Brazilian navy say they cannot afford to continue keeping her moored in Rio harbour.

So there is a real danger that this last survivor from World War II could end her days being broken up.