Defence Ministry signs death warrant for India's first aircraft carrier

[Gessler]

India’s first aircraft carrier, the Vikrant, is finally set to sail into the sunset.
Defence Minister A.K. Antony recently approved the sale of the retired aircraft
carrier as scrap. This follows the failure of decade-long plans to convert the
warship into a Rs.600-crore floating museum in Mumbai. Defence ministry
officials said final orders for disposing the carrier as scrap are to be signed
by Minister of State for Defence Jitendra Singh.

The main reason for the failure of the museum project, however, lies in a
bitter dispute between the Navy and the Maharashtra government over using
the ship as a floating helipad. The Navy opposed the state government’s
proposal to site the warship-heliport off Oyster Rock near the Gateway of
India. This was because the project would be adjacent to its helicopter base
INS Shikra in Colaba. “That airspace is extremely sensitive for us and this is
also the reason we had opposed any helicopter flights from the rooftop of the
Ambani private residence (the 27-storeyed Antilia),” a senior naval official
told India Today. The state government says the Rs.600-crore project to
transform it into a museum would not be commercially viable if helicopter
operations were not permitted. In a December 11, 2012 letter to then
defence secretary Shashi Kant Sharma, state Chief Secretary J.K. Banthia
said it was difficult to remain committed to the project without active
financial support from the Navy. The unresolved impasse over the site-the
Navy wanted it moved up to Navi Mumbai or Cuffe Parade-stalled the project.

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority’s (MMRDA) ppp
hit a roadblock when two companies shortlisted for the project, the Aamby
Valley Limited and Ackruti Developers Limited, pulled out of the project in
January 2012.

The 18,000-tonne light aircraft carrier was built as the HMS Hercules for the
Royal Navy during the Second World War. It was completed and refurbished
for the Indian Navy which bought the warship in 1961. The Vikrant served
in the Navy for 36 years, particularly in the 1971 Indo-Pak war. The carrier
is presently anchored at the naval dockyard in Mumbai. It has been here
since it was retired from service in 1997 and the Navy wanted to convert it
into a museum. An intervention by Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray in 1998
saw the then Sena-BJP government sanction Rs.6.5 crore for the repair of
the warship.

The warship was converted into the Indian Museum Ship, INS Vikrant, in
2000 though the Navy said it would only be a temporary move. After a
decade of limited public access, the Vikrant museum was finally closed three
years ago. The Navy expressed fears about the perilous state of the aircraft
carrier’s aging hull but refused to spend an estimated Rs.22 crore on repairs
because it was unsure of the state government’s commitment.

Though the warship was transferred to the Maharashtra government in
the 1990s, it is being maintained by the Navy. Naval officials say the
700-foot-long warship is taking up valuable berthing space inside the naval
dockyard and is a drain on resources and manpower. “We barely have
enough funds to maintain our existing warships,” a senior naval official
said.

The name of the historic warship will, however, not die. The 38,000-tonne
Indigenous Aircraft Carrier, currently under construction at the Kochi
Shipyard and set to be launched on August 20 this year, will also be called
the INS Vikrant.

Read more at: Shipped to the scrap heap: Defence ministry signs death warrant for India's first aircraft carrier : NATION - India Today

Defence ministry signs death warrant for India’s first aircraft carrier | idrw.org

 

[Star Wars]

NOooooooooo .....nooo

 

[Manindra]

Vikrant is our first ACC . MOD should rethink.

 

[Dillinger]

Oh this girl was splendid indeed. Here she is launching ops to bomb Chittagong harbor and Cox Bazar, a golden moment against our nemesis and all those who had attempted to help them.

 

[Gessler]

Oh this girl was splendid indeed. Here she is launching ops to bomb Chittagong harbor and Cox Bazar, a golden moment against our nemesis and all those who had attempted to help them.

Don't worry, the new Vikrant (IAC-1) will do the same if our enemies push us to the limit.

 

[Dillinger]

Don't worry, the new Vikrant (IAC-1) will do the same if our enemies push us to the limit.

There is no joy in bombing Bangladesh now or Pakistan, nothing left to bomb. This ship should be preserved even if there is a certain cost incurred, not an unreasonable cost but still.

 

[third eye]

We tend to get attached to everything.

The Vikrant served with pride , did its job and like all things military it must fade away - it can never die.

 

[Agnostic_Indian]

they should have converted it to a museum, helipad, some structure, or something or anything.

 

[jamesseo89]

I am sure if Russians have announced that they are going to build their planned 6 Super N-Powered Carriers which is in pending then I am sure Russians will try to sell their only carrier to IN too. But let us know when the Admiral Gorshkof is coming to IN....??

Can you share some latest pictures of it.?

 

[SirHatesALot]

RIP.................

 

[Brahmos_2]

If cant be in Mumbai,why dont they look for some other location like Vizhag, Kochi or Chennai??

 

[Manindra]

There is no joy in bombing Bangladesh now or Pakistan, nothing left to bomb. This ship should be preserved even if there is a certain cost incurred, not an unreasonable cost but still.

They can make ticketing system for visitors which can returm much of its maintainence cost.

 

[satishkumarcsc]

Old man dies and the young girl lives. -Sin City

 

[nomi007]

it was better if pns ghazi sunk this ship
our target will be completed by indians own

 

[janon]

Aye tear her tattered ensign down
Long has it waved on high,
And many an eye has danced to see
That banner in the sky;
Beneath it rung the battle shout,
And burst the cannon's roar;--
The meteor of the ocean air
Shall sweep the clouds no more.

Her deck, once red with heroes' blood,
Where knelt the vanquished foe,
When winds were hurrying o'er the flood,
And waves were white below,
No more shall feel the victor's tread,
Or know the conquered knee;--
The harpies of the shore shall pluck
The eagle of the sea!

Oh, better that her shattered hulk
Should sink beneath the wave;
Her thunders shook the mighty deep,
And there should be her grave;
Nail to the mast her holy flag,
Set every threadbare sail,
And give her to the god of storms,
The lightning and the gale!'

(Written for the USS constitution, by Oliver Wendell Holmes. Due to the sentiments aoused by this poem, they decided not to retire the ship. She is still in active service, probably the oldest ship still in service anywhere in the world.)

it was better if pns ghazi sunk this ship
our target will be completed by indians own

PNS Ghazi tied precisely that, but got herself sunk in the attempt. It was a masterpiece of deception by Indian counterintelligence, to send Ghazi on a wild goose chase, by sending false messages over frequencies that they knew were being eavesdropped upon by pak. Vikrant was far away at the time, and Ghazi died chasing a mirage.