Millions of people across the world log on to internet auction site ebay to buy a host of weird and wonderful goodies. But now up for sale is a mighty aircraft carrier built by Tyne shipyard Swan Hunter. HMS Vengeance is being advertised on the popular auction website ebay and looks a snip at a mere £2.75 million. So any millionaires looking to make a bigger splash than their yacht-owning rivals could be tempted to make the ultimate sea-faring statement. Although the ship has been stripped of her weapons and aircraft, she apparently still has all her navigation and satellite guidance systems and is very much in working order. The fact that Vengeance is the only World War Two carrier still afloat is a tremendous boost to the Swan Hunter reputation for quality workmanship, particularly as the company prepares to start work on the next generation of Royal Navy aircraft carriers. Swan's commercial director, Norman Brownell, said: "It is great to see this ship has really stood the test of time and is still in fine shape." The yard delivered HMS Vengeance just as World War Two was drawing to a close and the vessel was in service until she was sold to Australia in 1953. Three years later she was bought by the Brazilian navy where she was renamed Minas Gerais before finally being sold to a private American company in 2002. She appeared on ebay after the collapse of a planned sale to a Chinese firm of shipbreakers who planned to reduce the proud vessel to a pile of scrap metal. Now there are strong hopes that the ship, believed to be the sole surviving World War Two carrier still afloat, could have a brighter future. Two rival entre-preneurs from Scotland and Holland are expected to go head-to-head with bids for HMS Vengeance which would see her become a floating museum or tourist attraction. The Colossus Class carrier would have had a crew of 1,300 in her operational days and been capable of steaming the world's oceans carrying a huge arsenal of aircraft and military hardware. She weighs in at 16,000 tonnes but will be dwarfed by the Royal Navy's new super-carriers which could be as big as 60,000 tonnes. | 
