The 56-year-old aircraft carrier, INS Viraat, which served the Indian Navy for nearly three decades was decommissioned on March 6, 2017.
INS Viraat was the longest-serving carrier in the world and would have its weapon systems and operational equipment taken out after decommissioning.
In the summer of 1986, the Indian Navy was abuzz with excitement, waiting for the arrival of INS Viraat, then India’s second aircraft carrier, which would radically alter the Navy’s operational paradigms.
INS Viraat weighs about 27,800 tonnes and served in the British Navy as HMS Hermes for 25 years from November 1959 to April 1984 and after refurbishment, was commissioned into the Indian Navy in May 1987.
The Navy had maintained Vikrant, India’s first aircraft carrier, at Mumbai for 17 years as various proposals to convert it into a museum went back and forth unsuccessfully before the ship was eventually sent to the scrapyard in 2014. The Navy has also stated that it cannot keep the Viraat indefinitely as it would block space in the dockyard.
On its last day in service on March 6, 2017, the fate of INS Viraat remains unclear as to whether it will be converted into a luxury hotel or head to the scrapyard to be broken up.
The Sea Harrier aircraft which flew off the deck of INS Viraat have already been withdrawn and the Navy’s 300 squadron which operated them has since inducted the newer multi-role Mig-29K fighter aircraft. The ship had won the Royal British Navy the Falklands Wars against Argentina in 1982.