"Minas Gerais" remained in service until 2001, when she was replaced by NAe . At the time of her decommissioning, she was the oldest operational aircraft carrier in the world, and the last operational unit of the World War II Light Fleet design. Despite attempts to preserve the carrier as a museum ship, and after several failed attempts to auction the ship off (including a listing on eBay), "Minas Gerais" was sold for scrap in 2004 and taken to Alang for breaking up.