In 1945, the Royal Navy had the second-largest carrier fleet in the world, but faced the huge challenge of adapting to the jet age, with an austere budget and global responsibilities. This book explains how the Royal Navy's air power changed radically through the Cold War and beyond. A pioneering modernization programme for the wartime carriers produced the world's first angled flight decks, and later as fleet carriers became too expensive to operate, the Royal Navy introduced a new generation of light carriers designed for the innovative Harrier. Illustrated throughout with photos and new artwork, this volume explores the warships that proved so important in the changing post-war world. Royal Navy carriers served in the Korean War with the UN, in the Suez Crisis, and in the last operations of the Empire, in Malaya, Borneo and Aden. But most famously, they were the key to victory in the Falklands campaign, and they went on to fight in both Iraq wars.