The Brazilian Navy's carrier program is one long and tragic joke.
Minas Gerais, the former Colossus-class HMS Vengeance was bought in 1956 and commissioned in 1960, but only operated helicopters and a couple of S-2 Trackers for most of her life. She installed a (second-hand) catapult in 1996, but did not operate any combat aircraft until January 2001, only to be decommissioned in October…!
Sao Paulo, ex-Foch, has been an endless maintenance nightmare since entering service in 2001, ceasing flight operations after a catapult explosion in 2004 and has practically never sailed operationally ever since. It only makes a few short cruises every now and then. Brazil officially gave up on Sao Paulo in February 2017.
On the air wing side, Brazil purchased 23 Skyhawks (20 single-seat, 3 double-seat) from Kuwait in 1998. They can only carry bombs, guns and the AIM-9 Sidewinder. They first trapped on board Minas Gerais in January 2001.
Subsequently, Brazil planned to upgrade 12 of the Skyhawks (9 single, 3 double) with Israeli electronics and weapons but completed only 2 such Skyhawks in 2015, with 2 more scheduled to be completed in 2017. Four C-1 Traders were to have been refurbished into Turbo Traders for COD, AAR and AEW work, but were never completed or delivered due to legal issues.
In summary, from 1960 to 2017, Brazil’s 2 carriers and small fleet of fixed-wing naval aircraft have only really operated concurrently from 2001 to 2004, a grand total of 3 years.
The article does go on to say soon to be exHMS Ocean will NOT be a dock-queen.
I don't know, but i think DoctorMonkey has a point about her being built to commercial standards with off-the shelf technology may help. She lot younger than her older Invincible-Class Aircraft Carrier cousins.
Erm, quite the opposite.
Warships are put under different stresses from merchant marine ships. HMS Ocean was a stop-gap purchase until the QEs came online, and as such was built to lower-than-military-normal standards - often called "commercial standards" for short - with a very strict budget and shelf-life. There were numerous complaints about her accommodation - particularly the sewage treatment system - which were only rectified in her 2014 refit to make her suitable to serve as the Royal Navy's flagship. I am not an expert but it those who are say that her bulkheads, machinery etc. are designed to
reliably last up to about now, and that's that.
No, I don't think its a very good choice by the Brazilian Navy at all.