INS Viraat sets sail for final voyage

After guarding India's maritime borders for nearly 60 years, Indian Navy's aircraft carrier, INS Viraat, set sail on her final journey before its retirement later this year.

The world's oldest operational aircraft carrier, which entered service on May 12, 1987, today reached Paradip port, Odisha for the very first time.

The ship will now move to Kakinada Port and from there to Chennai and finally Mumbai.

Last month, INS Viraat took part in International Fleet Review (IFR) at Visakhapatnam, in which more than 100 ships from 50 navies from around the world participated.

Prior to being commissioned into the Indian Navy, the aircraft carrier had served as the HMS Hermes with the Royal Navy and went on to serve with distinction in the 1982 Falklands Islands War against Argentina.

The ship has seen 18 Commanding Officers of which three went onto become Chiefs of Naval Staff viz Admiral Madhvendra Singh, Admiral Arun Prakash and Admiral Nirmal Verma.

The ship has done over 40,000 hours of steaming and traversed over 5,00,000 nautical miles across the proverbial seven seas. The ship has undertaken over 20,000 hrs of flying from its deck.