The legacy of INS Viraat on its final journey

INS Viraat commenced its towed final journey on Saturday from Mumbai, to be broken at Alang in Gujarat and sold as scrap. A look at the Grand Old Lady of Indian Navy, which was decommissioned in 2017 after 30 years of service with Indian Navy and around 27 years prior to that in British Royal Navy.

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Key-Points

The ship was commissioned into the Royal Navy as HMS (Her Majesty’s Ship) Hermes in 1959.

She was part of the key formation of the British forces during the Falklands War against the Argentinian forces in 1982. HMS Hermes was decommissioned within three years after the war.

The Indian Navy announced its purchase in 1985-86. The ship underwent a major refit and modernisation before being commissioned into the Indian Navy in 1987 as INS (Indian Naval Ship) Viraat, which means enormous.

INS Viraat proved pivotal in Operation Jupiter in 1989 during the Sri Lankan Peacekeeping operation.

The ship was also deployed during 2001-02 Operation Parakram following the terror attack on the Indian Parliament. It was decommissioned in 2017.