Vikrant (aircraft carrier)

[john sefton]

INS Vikrant (R11) (formerly HMS Hercules (R49)) was a Majestic-class light aircraft carrier of the Indian Navy.
Her keel was laid down on 12 November 1943 by Vickers-Armstrong on the Tyne and she was launched on 22 September 1945. Completion work was carried out in Belfast but construction was suspended after the end of World War II and she was laid up for possible future use. Her pennant was changed from R49 to R11.
In January 1957 she was sold to India, and construction was completed at Harland and Wolff with an extensively modernized design, including an angled deck with steam catapults, a modified island, and many other improvements.
The Indian high commissioner to the United Kingdom, Vijayalakshmi Pandit, commissioned her as INS Vikrant on 4 March 1961 while she was still at Belfast, Northern Ireland. The name Vikrant was taken from Sanskrit vikrānta meaning "stepped beyond", i.e. "courageous", "victorious". Her pennant was once again R11 in the Indian Navy. Captain Pritam Singh was the first commanding officer of the carrier. She formally joined the Indian fleet at Bombay on 3 November 1961, when she was received at Ballard Pier by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and other high-ranking dignitaries.
The Vikrant's initial air wing consisted of British Hawker Sea Hawk fighter-bombers and a French Alize anti-submarine aircraft. On 18 May 1961 the first jet landed on board, piloted by Lieutenant (later Admiral) R H Tahiliani.
In 1965, Pakistan claimed that it had sunk the Vikrant. At the time, however, the ship was under refit in dry dock.
In June 1970, the Vikrant was immobilized at the Naval Dockyard in Mumbai, due to a crack in a water drum of one of the boilers. In March 1971 she was put through trials without use of the damaged boiler by routing steam from the forward machinery to the steam catapult. This enabled her to launch both the Sea Hawks as well as the Breguet Alizé.
These modifications turned out to be invaluable, enabling the Vikrant to enter combat, despite the cracked boiler, against East Pakistan in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. Stationed off the Andaman & Nicobar islands along with Indian naval ships, INS Bramhaputra and INS Beas, the Vikrant redeployed towards Chittagong at the outbreak of
hostilities. On the morning of December 4, 1971, the eight Sea Hawk aircraft on the Vikrant launched an air raid on Cox's Bazaar from 60 nautical miles away. That evening, the air group struck Chittagong Harbour. Future strikes targeted Khulna and Mongla. A PTI message is supposed to have read, "Chittagong harbor ablaze as ships and aircraft
of the (Pakistan) Eastern Naval Fleet bombed and rocketed. Not a single vessel can be put to sea from Chittagong."
Air strikes continued until December 10, 1971.
Given naval intelligence that indicated the intent of the Pakistan Navy to break through the Indian Naval blockade using camouflaged merchant ships, the Sea Hawks struck shipping in the Chittagong and Cox's Bazar harbors, sinking or incapacitating most merchant ships there.
The PNS Ghazi submarine was deployed to sink the INS Vikrant. However, Ghazi sank off Visakhapatnam harbor under mysterious circumstances. During the war the crew of Vikrant earned two Mahavir Chakras and 12 Vir Chakras.
Vikrant was given an extensive refit, including new engines and modernization between 1979 and 3 January 1982.
Between December 1982 and February 1983 she was refitted again to enable her to operate BAe Sea Harriers which replaced the Sea Hawk. After the retirement of the Breguet Alizé from carrier service in 1989, she received a 'ski jump' for more efficient use of her Sea Harriers.
Vikrant was India's only carrier for over twenty years, but by the early 1990s she was effectively out of service because of her poor condition. Even following major overhauls she was rarely put to sea. She was formally decommissioned on 31 January 1997. Following her decommissioning, Vikrant was marked for preservation as a museum
ship in Mumbai, although a lack of funding has prevented progress on the ship's conversion for this role.
Vikrant is opened to the public by the Indian Navy for short periods, but as of April 2010, the Government of Maharashtra has been unable to find an industrial partner to operate the museum on a permanent, long-term basis.
She is the only World War II-era British-built aircraft carrier to be preserved as a museum.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/INS_Vikrant_(R11)
India SG1115, 1184.

[aukepalmhof]

INS Vikrant, India's first aircraft carrier which played a key
role in 1971 India-Pak war, is certain to go under the hammer at Alang.

The 213.3-metre-long aircraft carrier that was decommissioned in 1997 is on
its way to Alang and is expected to berth off Bhavnagar coast soon, sources
close to the development confirmed.

Sources also said that a Mumbai-based ship-breaker has purchased INS Vikrant
in the e-auction.

The Centre had kept its reserve price at Rs 3.1 crore, but it is expected to
have fetched much more in the auction. The Centre has spent Rs 22 crore on
the repairs of this vessel that is made up of 15,000 tonnes steel.

INS Vikrant, the sole World War II-era British-built aircraft carrier to be
preserved as a museum, was launched on September 22, 1945.

Last month, Mumbai High Court had dismissed a public interest litigation
(PIL) filed by an activist to stop the government's proposed plan to auction
the ship as a scrap.

HC bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice M S Sanklecha had
accepted defence ministry'sstand that the aircraft is 'completely unsafe'
and unfit for preservation as museum.

Work has begun on scrapping the aircraft carrier VIKRANT after it was bought by the Mumbai’s IB Commercials Pvt. Ltd. at Mumbai during an auction on 29 January 2014 for RS 63 Crore.
October 2014 was she handed over by the India Navy to the shipbreaker, and on 12 November 2014 dismantling commenced at the shipbreakers yard by approximately 200 workers.

Source: Indiatimes.
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