Dismantling of iconic warship INS Vikrant begins

[SpArK]

Dismantling of iconic warship INS Vikrant begins

MUMBAI: Three months after the Supreme Court junked a PIL against scrapping of the country's first aircraft carrier INS Vikrant, the process of breaking the iconic naval vessel has begun.

"We began the process of breaking INS Vikrant yesterday and it will take at least seven to eight months to complete the job," Abdul Zaka of ship breaking company IB Commercial (IBC), which had won the bid for the decommissioned ship for Rs 60 crore, told .

Zaka said after the Supreme Court in August rejected the PIL to convert the ship into a maritime museum, IBC obtained mandatory permissions from different government authorities for dismantling it at ship breaking yard at Darukana in south Mumbai.

Around 200 men have been engaged for the job.

Before the Supreme Court's verdict, the Maharashtra government had expressed its inability to maintain the vessel inducted into the Navy in 1961 and decommissioned in January 1997.

In January 2014, during the hearing of a Public Interest Litigation that opposed the plan to scrap the ship, the defence ministry had told the Bombay high court that it had completed its operational life.

Responding to the demand for converting it into a museum, Maharashtra government had expressed its inability to preserve it as a museum, saying it would not be financially viable.

The high court had subsequently dismissed the PIL.

The majestic-class aircraft carrier, purchased from Britain in 1957, played a key role in enforcing the naval blockade of East Pakistan during the Indo-Pakistan war of 1971 which culminated in creation of Bangladesh.

Defence sources said more than 60 per cent of the artefacts on the ship have been moved to the Maritime History Society in Mumbai, while rest shifted to Naval Aviation Museum in Goa. The remaining relics will be shifted to various museums and motivational centres.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Dismantling-of-iconic-warship-INS-Vikrant-
begins/articleshow/45232948.cms

Decommissioned warship, INS Vikrant being wrecked at Darukhana ship breaking yard in Mumbai on Friday. Photo: PTI

IB Commercial Pvt Ltd had won the bid to scrap the ship for Rs 63.02 cr in January. It would take around six to eight months to dismantle the ship, said IB Commercial officials - See more at:

 

[enquencher]

I had a chance to be on vikrant some 15 20 years ago at mumbai.when it was on display at navy nagar..It was so awesome huge and majestic.we were taken to the deck in a big lift used to carry planes from cargo deck.the cargo dead looked like a big enclosed football ground...I should have taken my camera with me.

 

[Alphacharlie]

Painful.

 

[Abingdonboy]

View attachment 155186 View attachment 155187 View attachment 155188
Decommissioned warship, INS Vikrant being wrecked at Darukhana ship breaking yard in Mumbai on Friday. Photo: PTI

View attachment 155189

IB Commercial Pvt Ltd had won the bid to scrap the ship for Rs 63.02 cr in January. It would take around six to eight months to dismantle the ship, said IB Commercial officials - See more at:

Ah man that is so fcking sad! Should've been turned into a museum piece but no ministry (federal or state) were interested in covering the price and maintaining thereafter.

An iconic piece of Indian military history lost forever.

 

[HariPrasad]

Painful.

Sad to see it disintegrating.

 

[Koovie]

Ouch

 

[Capt.Popeye]

A part of IN history has ended. I walked on the flight deck with my father as a young boy aeons ago; then got treated to a Tomato Juice (the only kind of drink that was on offer to juniors) in the Officers Wardroom on the Stbd side under the Flt Dk. That was the beginning of many times on the ship, including one during a Presidential Review of the Fleet. The last one was in 2003, when she was already a Museum Ship in the Naval Dockyard. Pity that she could not be saved; many memories inter-twined with her.

 

[Krate M]

Deserved a better end. They could have made a reef out of her. Sad to see her go through this.

 

[gowda]

It given lot to service to the nation I'm every sad it getting scrapped

 

[Levina]

Ah man that is so fcking sad! Should've been turned into a museum piece but no ministry (federal or state) were interested in covering the price and maintaining thereafter.

An iconic piece of Indian military history lost forever.

Is it too late??
Cant it be stopped??

 

[Mirza Jatt]

Is it too late??
Cant it be stopped??

By now more damage has been done than what you see in the pics above.

sad to see it getting scrapped. Its an end of an era.

 

[Abingdonboy]

Is it too late??
Cant it be stopped??

No chance. The breakdown process is irreversible and anyway there is no one calling for it to be stopped it was only scrapped because no party(public or private) came foreword willing to incur the cost of its maintenance and refurbishment.

Not a very befitting ending for a military hero of India's....

 

[Not Sure]

Is it too late??
Cant it be stopped??

17th July, The Hindu

Will India’s first aircraft carrier be scrapped or made a museum?
On the eve of the Supreme Court decision whether India’s first aircraft carrier ‘INS Vikrant’ should be scrapped, former servicemen made a strong pitch for converting it into a maritime museum.

The Maharashtra government has expressed its inability to preserve it as a maritime museum owing to financial constraints. The 16,000-tonne ship, which had helped to enforce a naval blockade of East Pakistan — now Bangladesh — during the 1971 war, was decommissioned in 1997.

Activists and former servicemen said it was a pity that the government could not allocate funds to preserve a “national treasure” even as it was willing to spend Rs. 200 crore to build the Statue of Unity in Gujarat. “The vessel should serve as an inspiration for the future. It’s a shame that she is parked opposite the Darukhana ship-breaking yard, the graveyard of ships,” lamented former Admiral I.C. Rao.

The Bombay High Court had given the go-ahead for the Vikrant to be auctioned in January, after it rejected a public interest litigation petition to save the vessel and convert it into a maritime museum. The Centre said it was difficult to maintain the vessel.

In March, the Indian Navy sold Vikrant to a Mumbai-based ship breaking company for Rs. 63 crore. However, activists recently moved the apex court in a bid to save the vessel. The Supreme Court in May ordered maintenance of status quo.

“The ship is caught in the crossfire between politicians and scrap syndicate,” said former Captain Lawrence Nathaniel, who served two years on the vessel during the 1960s.

The former servicemen, who nostalgically recalled their time on the ship, would also make representations to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

To further their point about the feasibility of the project, they have chalked out a plan to address the safety concerns of all the parties concerned. The vessel would be parked on a concrete platform close to shallow waters, and not kept floating, to avoid the danger of sinking. A suitable spot, west of Oyster Rock, has been zeroed in to park the imposing ship. To make the project commercially viable, corporate firms would be invited to sponsor activities on board and treat it as a tourist hub with a convention centre, said Mr. Rao. The ship has 2.6 lakh square feet of space, of which 50,000 square feet can be developed into a museum. The other space can be used as a convention centre. Mr. Rao spoke of the success of similar projects in New York (USS Trepid) and London (HMS Belfast).

Mr. Nathaniel informed that the Vizag Urban Development Authority (VUDA) in Andhra Pradesh had agreed to adopt the vessel as a maritime museum, provided it was brought to the city.The vessel was purchased as HMS Hercules from Britain in 1957 and rechristened ‘INS Vikrant.’

 

[Abingdonboy]

17th July, The Hindu

View attachment 155445

Will India’s first aircraft carrier be scrapped or made a museum?
On the eve of the Supreme Court decision whether India’s first aircraft carrier ‘INS Vikrant’ should be scrapped, former servicemen made a strong pitch for converting it into a maritime museum.

The Maharashtra government has expressed its inability to preserve it as a maritime museum owing to financial constraints. The 16,000-tonne ship, which had helped to enforce a naval blockade of East Pakistan — now Bangladesh — during the 1971 war, was decommissioned in 1997.

Activists and former servicemen said it was a pity that the government could not allocate funds to preserve a “national treasure” even as it was willing to spend Rs. 200 crore to build the Statue of Unity in Gujarat. “The vessel should serve as an inspiration for the future. It’s a shame that she is parked opposite the Darukhana ship-breaking yard, the graveyard of ships,” lamented former Admiral I.C. Rao.

The Bombay High Court had given the go-ahead for the Vikrant to be auctioned in January, after it rejected a public interest litigation petition to save the vessel and convert it into a maritime museum. The Centre said it was difficult to maintain the vessel.

In March, the Indian Navy sold Vikrant to a Mumbai-based ship breaking company for Rs. 63 crore. However, activists recently moved the apex court in a bid to save the vessel. The Supreme Court in May ordered maintenance of status quo.

“The ship is caught in the crossfire between politicians and scrap syndicate,” said former Captain Lawrence Nathaniel, who served two years on the vessel during the 1960s.

The former servicemen, who nostalgically recalled their time on the ship, would also make representations to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

To further their point about the feasibility of the project, they have chalked out a plan to address the safety concerns of all the parties concerned. The vessel would be parked on a concrete platform close to shallow waters, and not kept floating, to avoid the danger of sinking. A suitable spot, west of Oyster Rock, has been zeroed in to park the imposing ship. To make the project commercially viable, corporate firms would be invited to sponsor activities on board and treat it as a tourist hub with a convention centre, said Mr. Rao. The ship has 2.6 lakh square feet of space, of which 50,000 square feet can be developed into a museum. The other space can be used as a convention centre. Mr. Rao spoke of the success of similar projects in New York (USS Trepid) and London (HMS Belfast).

Mr. Nathaniel informed that the Vizag Urban Development Authority (VUDA) in Andhra Pradesh had agreed to adopt the vessel as a maritime museum, provided it was brought to the city.The vessel was purchased as HMS Hercules from Britain in 1957 and rechristened ‘INS Vikrant.’

A real shame none of this came to pass, it seemed converting into into a Museum had been well thought out and would have been viable. Hopefully lessons are learnt from this and when the Viraat is retired in a few years time she is given a befitting retirement (as a museum ship inspiring the youngsters of India).

 

[livingdead]

is there any other country which got an AC as museum..
this was a second hand ship anyway.