Viraat in Sanskrit means 'giant'. With a displacement of 23,900 tonnes, INS Viraat is actually a midget if compared with the American Nimitz aircraft carrier's, which displaces one lakh tonnes. But, for the Viratee, as the sailors and officers on the carrier call themselves, she has been a supercarrier. Viraat was originally HMS Hermes, which was commissioned by the British Royal Navy in 1959 and decommissioned in 1984. It joined themselvesIndian Navy on May 12, 1987 and was the flagship before INS Vikramaditya was commissioned in 2013.
Viraat’s crest depicts an eagle, which symbolises air power, with five arrows on its talons depicting all-round attack capability. The motto of Viraat is the Sanskrit maxim ‘Jalmeva yasya balameva tasya’, which means ‘the one who controls the sea is all-powerful’. Viraat was manned by 1,350 personnel, including 43 officers. It carried Sea Harrier fighters, Advanced Light Helicopters, and Sea King and Chetak helicopters. The Sea Harrier fleet, which was part of the Indian Naval Air Squadron 300 (INAS 300), was decommissioned in Goa in May 2016. The squadron will be inducted with MiG 29K/Kub fighters.
INS Viraat spent nearly 2,250 days at sea sailing 5,88,288 nautical miles. She played a major role in the Indian peace keeping operations in Sri Lanka and in the Kargil war. Viraat has also participated in several international joint exercises like Malabar with US Navy, Varuna with French Navy and Naseem-Al-Bahar with Oman Navy. The last operational deployment of the ship was for participation in International Fleet Review at Visakhapatnam in 2016.
Since its commissioning, Viraat has gone through several refits and mid-life upgrades. In view of its age and cost of maintenance the Navy is in the process of decommissioning it. The process will be complete with in a few months. The ship has served the Indian Navy for 29 years and the British Royal Navy 27 years, making her the oldest serving aircraft carrier. The Andhra Pradesh government had shown a keen interest in getting Viraat to berth in Visakhapatnam for promotion of tourism after its decommissioning. If everything goes as planned tourists can enjoy their nights in an aircraft carrier in luxurious style.
