INS Vikrant (R11)
INS Vikrant was a Majestic-class aircraft carrier of the Indian Navy.The ship was commissioned as HMS Hercules for the British Royal Navy during World War II, but construction was put on hold after the war's end, and she never entered British service. India purchased the incomplete carrier from the United Kingdom in 1957, and construction was completed in 1961. INS Vikrant was commissioned as the first aircraft carrier of the Indian Navy and played a key role in enforcing the naval blockade on East Pakistan during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971.
History
The ship was decommissioned in January 1997 and from 1997 to 2012, she was preserved as a museum ship in Cuffe Parade, Mumbai, until it was closed in 2012 due to safety concerns. In January 2014, the ship was sold through an online auction and was scrapped for metal.
The ship was commissioned into the Indian Navy as INS Vikrant by Vijayalakshmi Pandit, then Indian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom on 4 March 1961 in Belfast. The name Vikrant was derived from Sanskrit word vikrānta meaning "stepping beyond", "courageous" or "bold". Captain Pritam Singh became the first commanding officer of the carrier. The ship\'s initial fleet consisted of British Hawker Sea Hawk fighter-bombers and French Alize anti-submarine aircraft.
On 18 May 1961, the first jet landed on her deck piloted by Lieutenant Radhakrishna Hariram Tahiliani. She formally joined the Indian Navy\'s Fleet in Bombay on 3 November 1961, when she was received at Ballard Pier by then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
Services
During the Indo-Pakistan War of 1965, Pakistan falsely claimed to have sunk the ship when it was actually in dry dock undergoing modifications.In June 1970, she was at the Naval Dockyard for repairs due to a crack in a water drum of one of the boilers powering her steam catapult.
Unable to procure a replacement drum from the United Kingdom due to an embargo, Admiral S M Nanda ordered the routing of steam from her forward machinery to the steam catapult to bypass the damaged boiler. This repair enabled her to launch the Sea Hawks and Alizé, although she lost some cruising power. In March 1971, she was put through trials to test the fix.
Indo-pak war of 1971
The ship returned to service in time to enter the combat against Pakistan in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.
She was initially stationed off the Andaman & Nicobar Islands along with Leopard-class frigates INS Brahmaputra and INS Beas.
The ship was redeployed towards Chittagong at the outbreak of hostilities.On 4 December 1971, the Sea Hawks launched from the ship struck shipping in the Chittagong and Cox's Bazar harbours, sinking or incapacitating most ships there. Later strikes targeted Khulna and Port of Mongla and continued until 10 December 1971 establishing a naval blockade in East Pakistan.
The Pakistan Navy deployed the submarine Ghazi to specifically target and sink the ship. However, the submarine sank off Visakhapatnam coast under mysterious circumstances and probably due to depth charge attacks by INS Rajput. The crew of INS Vikrant earned two Mahavir Chakra and 12 Vir Chakra gallantry medals for its part in the war.
Later years
The ship was given an extensive refit, including new engines between 1979 and 1982. She underwent further upgrades between December 1982 and February 1983 to enable her to operate BAe Sea Harriers which replaced the existing Sea Hawk fleet. After the retirement of the Breguet Alizé in 1989, she received a "ski jump" for more efficient use of her Sea Harriers. She was formally decommissioned on 31 January 1997.
Museum ship
Following the decommissioning in 1997, the ship was marked for preservation as a museum ship in Mumbai. Lack of funding prevented progress on the ship\'s conversion to a museum and was speculated that the ship would be made into a training ship. In 2001, the ship was made open to the public by the Indian Navy but the Government of Maharashtra was unable to find a partner to operate the museum on a permanent, long-term basis and in 2012, the museum was closed after it was deemed unsafe for public.
Scrapping
In August 2013, Vice-Admiral Shekhar Sinha, chief of the Western Naval Command, said the Ministry of Defence would scrap the ship as she had become very difficult to maintain and no private bidders had offered to fund the museum's operations.On 3 December 2013, the Indian government decided to auction the ship.
In January 2014, the ship was sold through an online auction to a Darukhana ship-breaker for ₹60 crore (US$8.9 million). Supreme Court of India dismissed another litigation challenging the ship's sale and scrapping on 14 August 2014. Vikrant remained beached off Darukhana in Mumbai Port while awaiting the final clearances of the Mumbai Port Trust. On 12 November 2014, the Supreme Court gave its final approval for the carrier to be scrapped and the scrapping commenced on 22 November 2014.
In February 2016, Indian auto manufacturer Bajaj unveiled a new bike made with metal from Vikrant's scrap and named it Bajaj V in honor of Vikrant.