Death of a giant

Metal from the majestic INS Vikrant, India’s first aircraft carrier, was used to build a motorcycle model.

Metal from the majestic INS Vikrant, India’s first aircraft carrier, was used to build a motorcycle model. Commissioned in 1961, the Majestic-class ship clocked 499,066 nautical miles, equivalent to almost 15 times around the world, before it was taken off active service in 1997. When it was finally decommissioned, the government of Maharashtra and the Indian Navy tried to run it as a Naval Dockyard Museum at Apollo Bunder. But lack of funds and maintenance led to it being declared unsafe, and in 2012, it was decided to sell it as scrap. A PIL against the decision went all the way to the Supreme Court. The apex court ruled that given the lack of interest and money to refurbish the massive vessel, it could be sold. In 2014, it fetched a paltry 60 crores.

INS Viraat, India’s second carrier, seems headed for the same fate. The ship, which was listed as the oldest serving carrier in the world in the Guinness Book of Records, was originally built as the as the Royal Navy’s HMS Hermes in 1959. Decommissioned in 1984, she was refurbished and sold to India in May 1987 and renamed the Viraat or ‘giant’. She served for over 27 years, clocking over 500,000 nautical miles and will be decommissioned in March in a grand ceremony.

While the Indian Navy is keen to preserve the ship, it lacks the funds as well as the berthing facilities needed to maintain it as a museum. The government of Andhra Pradesh, which had initially shown some interest in maintaining it, balked when faced with the `1000 crore estimate to convert the 13-storey carrier into a maritime museum. “It was an incredible warship, with deadly construction, simplicity of design and robust machinery. It did well for the country,” a nostalgic veteran was quoted as saying.  As another veteran put it, “At the moment, failing a miracle or a grant from the Ministry of Defence, the best one can hope for is that parts of it might be reincarnated as part of a car.”

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