It was heart-rending to read the report, “ Vikrant s old to ship-breaker for Rs.63.2 crore” (April 9). I was a part of the commissioning crew of INS Vikrant and served on board for the first three years of her life. I was deputed to the Harland & Wolff shipyard to stand by as the vessel was being fitted out, and later sailed in it to India. It was the proudest moment for me when she was commissioned in 1961.
We had earlier appealed against scrapping the carrier. She was docked in Mumbai for some time. But it all seems to have been in vain. While HMS Victory , most famous as Lord Nelson’s flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar, proudly stands as an exhibit in a harbour in the U.K., it is deeply saddening that we can only think of how expensive it is to maintain our first aircraft carrier.
K.R.A. Narasiah,
Chennai
