Today ( 06 March 2017) INS VIRAAT which was the oldest operational aircraft in the world has been retired from the service. INS VIRAAT was former Centuar class aircraft carrier in Royal Navy.
The ship served the Royal Navy for about 27 years before it was sold to India where it was refurbished and operated by Indian Navy for almost 30 years. This beautiful machine was often called "GRAND OLD LADY" and this was the 2nd aircraft carrier of Indian Navy which was preceded by INS VIKRANT ( old one).
It was the main ship of Indian Navy before INS Vikramaditya was commissioned into service and since then it has complemented the newer aircraft carrier.
INS VIRAAT on 23 July 2016, sailed from Mumbai to Kochi for the last time under her own steam; by then, she had spent a total of 2,250 days at sea and had steamed a total of 1,094,215 kilometers (10.94 lakh KMS or covered globe about 27 times).
The decommissioning on INS VIRAAT has left a gap in Indian Navy which will be filled by the first indigenous aircraft carrier INS VIKRANT ( NEW ONE) which is currently under construction and it supposed to be inducted by 2018. According to reports the work on the aircraft carrier is near completion and it might be out for sea trials in 2017 and may join the Indian Navy near 2018 end.
Earlier the plans were to convert the INS VIRAAT into a museum but now the plans seem to be dropped as it would require extensive work and resources to convert it into museum. According to NAVAL CHIEF the ship can also be sunk and converted into a diving spot instead of museum.
While the fate of the ship is yet to be decided but one thing is for sure that the GRAND OLD LADY has served our nation well and bidding it farewell is tough not just for Navy but for the entire nation.
As for the new INS VIKRANT we hope to see it inducted soon.
Why not proposing her for sale back to the Brits? She could do interim to train with their Fail-35 then they'll do a Falkland themed museum and put a few decommissioned Harriers on.
ReplyDeleteBecause Brits won't buy it. They already are about to have their own AC fully operational but still don't have enough fighters on it, why would they buy a smaller carrier now? also I doubt Fail-35 may not be able take off from this one.
DeleteWe could have tried selling it to some country like Brazil etc which is showing interest but I don't think they will really buy it because of operational cost.
It was more in the idea to put a museum onboard. If French are usually ashamed of their colonial past, Brits are very proud about it. Well the main provocation would be to sell her to Argentina and having them taking the Malvinas back with her, especially with UK so near to disappear from the maps as Scotland and Ulster will surely leave.
ReplyDeleteWell, what would be hilarious, after the dirty trick BAe played to DCNS, would be that we inherit the unfinished HMS Prince of Wales R09 from Scotland for peanuts, having DCNS finishing the job and putting our already acquired two C13-2 catapults onboard and that we'd end with the cheapest aircraft carrier acquisition of the century. As BAe and UK-MoD really played dirty with us and EU, such a punishment would be highly deserved.
What is already laughable is that, by letting the 3rd of job to DCNS for the 3 carriers, they'd have ended with an €2-2.3bln cost per unit. Now they end with a €4.7bln/ship and can't even retrofit to CATOBAR w.o. spending £1bln/ship, in other termns, it'd be the price of a Nimitz-class while 55m smaller and without nuke reactor. BAe makes it without vaseline :grin:
Thus what sucks is that they already put the 2 islands, the bridge and the ski-jump. Sucks, it's too advanced :grin:
Do you know that their Churchill had 67 years advance on Saddam Hussein? He used chemical weapons against the Kurds as soon as 1921. WW2 could as ceased in Europe as soon as end 1943/beginning 1944 but he wanted the Soviets to take maximal casualties so instead of having beach landings in Sicily, Provence and Normandy at the same time, Normandy was postponed. Well, US have simply copied on the Brits.
You know, if well thought, a small (well, maybe a little bigger than INS Viraat) aircraft carrier, let's say a 245.5m one, at worst 261m, could have an as big hangar as an Nimitz-class super-carrier. I estimate that a CVN this size could be built for about €1.5-1.8bln. They simply still conceive them like in the 50's. Actually, there are many systems which, if thought about in an out of the bow way, that could be made nonetheless much cheaper but also more efficient. Thus, the goal is to soak maximum money from the tax payers ;)
I would like to know why u post as anonymous mate. I guess I know who you are
Delete