INS Viraat, an aircraft carrier that served the Indian Navy for 30 years, was decommissioned on Monday in Mumbai. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and 21 of the 22 former INS Viraat commanders attended the ceremony.
If there are no buyers for INS Viraat in the next four months, it will be dismantled, Indian Navy Chief Sunil Lanba told NDTV on Monday. The vessel could also be sunk to create a tourist spot for divers, Admiral Lamba added.
The Navy is now left with only one aircraft carrier – the Russian INS Vikramaditya. INS Vikrant was retired in 1997.
INS Viraat was the world’s oldest serving aircraft carrier. It had served the Royal Navy during the British era for 27 years as HMS Hermes before being sold to India for $465 million. The vessel had undertaken its last journey in October 2016 from Kochi to Mumbai.
The carrier has had 2,250 sailing days and circumnavigated the globe nearly 27 times. Its name means “giant” in Sanskrit. When fully operational, Viraat had 1,500 staff members on board.
The vessel was used during Operation Jupiter in 1989 in Sri Lanka and participated in the blockade during Operation Vijay in 1999. INS Viraat had also participated in international joint exercises, including Malabar with the US Navy, Varuna with the French Navy and Naseem-Al-Bahar with the Omani Navy.
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