Free Republic

After nearly six decades in service, India’s majestic aircraft carrier INS Viraat will set sail for the last time from Mumbai to Kochi this week, powered by its own boilers before it is decommissioned. Once the ship berths itself with the Southern Naval Command on July 27 after sailing out from Mumbai on July 23, all valuable equipment on board like engines, radars, guns will be dismantled to prepare it for the decommissioning. The ship will then be towed back to Mumbai where it will be decommissioned. However, it is still not clear what will happen to the ship, which...

INS Viraat on its 50th anniversary in 2009. Indian Navy Photo The oldest active aircraft carrier in the world will be converted into a docked museum when the ship, now in the Indian Navy, decommissions next year. INS Viraat (R-22) was commissioned in 1959 into the Royal Navy as HMS Hermes (R-12), the last of the Centaur-class conventional aircraft carriers. It was transferred to India in 1987 after undergoing refits and equipment upgrades, according to The Tribune in India. After 57 years of service life, the ship will decommission in 2016. The Tribune reported that Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation...