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The Supreme Court on Wednesday prohibited the conversion of INS Virat, the oldest aircraft carrier of the Indian Navy, into junk. Apart from this, the court has also issued a notice in this regard to the company that bought the ship. INS Virat has been an important part of the identity and culture of the Indian Navy. INS Virat has been with the Navy for almost 29 years. The ship has five Navy Chiefs stationed before it retires. INS Virat became part of the British Navy in November 1959 with the name HMS Hermes. The ship is the first aircraft carrier in the world to have a world record of being involved in most naval operations. INS Virat was the identity of the Indian Navy and the Emperor of India on the Indian Ocean. INS Virat has retired on March 6, 2017.
56 years of great journey
INS Virat was commissioned in the Indian Navy on 12 May 1987 under the name of HMS Hermes. It was later renamed from HMS Hermes to INS Virat. Construction of this warship began in June 1944 and was commissioned into the Royal Navy on 18 November 1959. After being de-commissioned from the Royal Navy in 1985, this warship has traveled 56 years.
Silent Hero of Kargil war
INS Virat has the distinction of being the world’s oldest and an Indian Navy legend aircraft carrier. Virat, who had several years of history in himself, was put on standby mode during the Kargil war in 1999. The then government had full confidence in the ship that in the event of emergency this ship could play an important role.
Five Navy Chiefs have been posted
Former Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lamba has been the executive officer on INS Virat. In addition, retired Admiral Nirmal Kumar Verma, former Navy Chief Retired Admiral Madhavendra Singh, retired Admiral Arun Prakash, and retired Admiral Devendra Kumar Joshi have been posted as Commanding Officers on INS Virat.
INS Virat is the oldest warship in the world. Therefore it is also included in the Guinness Book of World Records. By the year 2012, INS Virat had spent more than 40,000 hours on water and had covered a distance of 5,00,000 kilometers on seven seas around the world. Apart from this, a record of flying 20,000 hours from the deck of this aircraft is also recorded. https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/oldest-aircraft-carrier-in-service-)
Name of largest operation Virat
INS Virat played a key role in the Indian Navy’s largest operation – “Operation Jupiter”. The operation, which began in July 1989, was started under an agreement between India and Sri Lanka. At the time of this operation, there was a civil war in Sri Lanka. During that time 76 sorties were carried out from Kochi through this warship and with the help of this, 350 soldiers were transported.
First class ship
The total weight of INS Virat is 23,900 tonnes and it is 226.5 meters long and 48.78 meters wide warship. The warship has a crew capacity of 150 officers and 1500 sailors. This warship is like a small town. It has a library, ATM, TV, gym and video studios, as well as a hospital and dental care center. INS Virat’s air squadron included the Insas 300C Flying Harriers, ie ‘White Tigers’, Insas 552 the ‘Braves’ Flying Sea Harriers, Insas 321 ‘Angels’ Chetak and Insas 330 ‘Harpoon’ Flying Sea Kings. The ship could operate up to 30 harriers simultaneously during an emergency.
Lots of effort to give life
The INS Virat, known as the ‘Grand Old Lady’, became part of the Indian Navy family in May 1987. It was retired on March 6, 2017 after serving the country for 30 years. After this, efforts were also made to convert ‘Virat’ into a museum or restaurant to give ‘Jeevan Dadaan’, but in the meantime, Sriram Group, located in Alang, Gujarat, bid the ship Rs 38.54 crores and named it. After this the ship was transported from the dockyard in Mumbai to the world’s largest ship dismantling yard at Alang in Bhavnagar (Gujarat) district. Meanwhile, Mumbai-based Envitech Marine Consultants Private Limited came forward to convert the ship into a maritime museum by giving it a ‘Jeevan Dadaan’.
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