Vikramaditya’s induction set to boost India’s blue water force | idrw.org
SOURCE: DHNS
On a cold day in Belfast in March, 1961, when Royal aircraft carrier HMS Hercules was inducted in the Indian Navy as INS Vikrant in the presence of then Indian high commissioner to the UK Vijayalakshmi Pandit, it was the first step in realising an ambitious goal, drawn up by early planners in the navy.
Half a century later when defence minister A K Antony will receive India's biggest aircraft carrier Vikramaditya on yet another cold morning in Russia later this month, the circle will be completed for the blue water force.
Soon after the Independence in August 1947, a team of four navy officers sketched an outline for reorganisation and development of Indian Navy. The team was headed by Rear Admiral JTS Hall, the first Chief of the Royal Indian Navy as it was then known, and included Commander AK Chatterjee (later Admiral and Chief of Naval Staff) Lt Cdr N Krishnan (later Vice Admiral) and Lt Cdr YN Singh, Indian Navy's first aviator. They planned for two fleets, each centering around a aircraft carrier.
Aircraft carriers arrived in the military scene at the turn of the century. But the world saw their usefulness in military operations during the World War-II as these ships were the backbone of the fleets operated by the US, British and Japanese navies. Post world war-II, when India looked for a carrier within its limited defence budget, the UK offered the unfinished HMS Hercules in 1957.
INS Vikrant was ordered as HMS Hercules by the Royal Navy. The ship was laid down in November and was launched in water on September 22, 1945. With the end of World War II, the construction was suspended in May 1946. New Delhi paid a princely sum of about 67 million pounds for the ship. It was put through an extensive refurbishment including an angled deck and steam catapults, making it a potent CATOBAR (Catapult Assisted Take Off but Arrested Recovery) aircraft carrier. The air wing consisted of British Sea Hawk fighter-bombers and French Alize anti-submarine aircraft. On May 18, 1961, the first jet landed on her deck piloted by Lieutenant (later Admiral and Chief of Naval Staff) Radhakrishna Hariram Tahiliani.
INS Vikrant missed the action in 1965 Indo-Pak war as it was in dry dock undergoing refit, when the war broke out. But in 1971, it played a pivotal role in the eastern theatre. Stationed off the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, it was redeployed towards Chittagong at the outbreak of hostilities. The Sea Hawks struck shipping in the Chittagong and Cox's Bazar harbours, sinking or incapacitating most ships in the harbour and crippling Pakistan's efforts.
Search for a new carrier
As INS Vikrant was getting old (decommissioned in 1997), the Navy looked for a new carrier. The UK offered one of its operational carriers HMS Hermes that fought in the 1982 Falklands war. It served with the Royal Navy until April, 1984 and was taken off from active duty in 1985. A year later, India purchased the vessel at a cost of approximately 80 million pounds and gave it an extensive refit at Davenport dockyard to extend its life by 10 years.
Rechristened as INS Viraat, the ship was commissioned in 1987. It is still going strong after 25 years, thanks to Indian engineering and innovation. After the arrival of INS Vikramaditya, for the first time, India will have two operational aircraft carriers as the ageing warhorse INS Viraat will be in service till 2020 when the new INS Vikrant – under construction at Kochi at the moment – joins the fleet.
"Two operational carrier battle groups give us opportunity to project power and maintain presence in the large number of sea lanes of communications, which are the lifeline of the world as far as energy security is concerned," Admiral Sekhar Sinha, Flag Officer Commander-in-Chief of Western Naval Command and one of the first Indian pilots to land on the decks of Vikramaditya told Deccan Herald.
The 1947 vision of having two carriers was reiterated in a 1964 cabinet decision that emphasised to have three aircraft carriers in order to have two functional carriers all the time as one carrier will need to be in the harbour periodically for round-the-year operation. Having two carriers definitely gives India strategic advantage compared to China and Pakistan, but it is not the ideal situation.
"With two aircraft carriers available we will be able to keep at least one aircraft carrier operationally deployed at all times. Availability of two carriers also gives us multiple tactical and strategic options to virtually keep under surveillance and monitor sea lanes in the entire Arabian Sea," Sinha says.
Indian Navy is acquiring the maritime muscles at a time when China has commissioned its first carrier Liaoning (Varyag) after almost 12 years of refit. Between 1998 and 2002, China purchased two decommissioned aircraft carriers named Kiev and Minsk from Russia, which were converted as museum and a place of tourist attractions.
So not much attention was paid when Beijing bought an unfinished Admiral Kuznetsov class carrier called Varyag from Ukraine, claiming it would be converted into a casino. Only when the ship is halfway through to its destination port at Dalian, Chinese leadership let it be known their intention of converting it into an aircraft carrier. Liaoning was commissioned in September 2012. China also has "Project 048" for indigenous development of "special large military ships" — a possible euphemism for aircraft carriers.
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