The ship was laid down by HM Dockyard Devonport in England as HMS "Terrible" on 19 April 1943, with the Viscountess Astor presiding over the ceremony. She was the only aircraft carrier of the "Colossus" or "Majestic" classes to be constructed in a 'royal dockyard': a dockyard owned and operated by the Royal Navy. She was launched on 30 September 1944 by the wife of British politician Duncan Sandys. Work on the ship continued until the end of World War II, when the Admiralty ordered the suspension of all warship construction.