INS Viraat to be decommissioned on March 6

INS Viraat, the second aircraft carrier in the Indian naval fleet, will be decommissioned on March 6, Vice Admiral Girish Luthra said here today.
"INS Viraat is the second centaur class aircraft carrier in service which has spent 30 years in the Indian Navy and before that 27 years in the Royal Navy of UK.
"After the decommissioning of INS Viraat, we will be short of two aircraft carriers as INS Vikrant has already been decommissioned," the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Western Naval Command told reporters here.
Earlier known as HMS Hermes, the ship was in the Royal Navy from 1959. In the late 80s, Indian Navy purchased it at the cost of USD 65 million and was re-commissioned on May 12, 1987.

It is the longest serving ship in the history, an official communication from the Western Naval Command said.
(Reopens BOM5)

The iconic aircraft carrier has a glorious history. It
was the flagship of the Royal Navy during the Falklands War in 1982. The ship got a new name 'INS Viraat' when it came to India and went on to serve in various capacities, including in 'Operation Jupiter' where it was involved in large scale shifting of Armymen, weapons and ammunition.
The ship, whose construction started in the UK in 1949, is 226.5 meters in length and 48.78 meters in breadth. It is manned by 150 officers and 1,500 sailors, Luthra said.

It was supposed to be used for maximum 10 years, but the Indian Navy operated the ship for 30 years, he said.
As per an official communication from the Navy, INS Viraat was commissioned into Indian Navy on May 12, 1987 at Plymouth, UK by P C Alexander, then High Commissioner of India to Britain.
The ship operated Sea Harrier (White Tigers - fighter aircrafts), Seaking 42B (Harpoons Anti-Submarine helicopters), Seaking 42C (Commando Carrier helicopters) and Chetak (Angles-SAR helicopter) as her main air elements.
INS Viraat was involved in her first major operation - 'Operation Jupiter' - in July 1989 as a part of Indian Peace Keeping Operations in Sri Lanka. She also played a pivotal role in 'Operation Parakram' undertaken after the terrorist attack on Parliament in December 2001.

More than 1,700 people, including officers from Royal Navy, will attend the de-commissioning event, Luthra said.