RIP INS Vikrant

Yusuf

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Guys starting this thread dedicated to INS Vikrant.

Use it to post pictures, stories of its illustrious career in Indian Navy etc
 

maomao

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I'm saddened by this news! GOI and ministry of defense should do something regarding converting Vikrant into a museum! I'm sure the 100-500 Cr figure for this is highly inflated!
 

JBH22

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India's first aircraft carrier turned to scrap
 
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Kunal Biswas

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Their is actually nothing much to talk about, Its a tragedy ..

I hope same fate does not happen with Virrat, Rather push it for another 10 years as Helicopter carrier ..
 

pmaitra

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When I was in Mumbai, I went to see the Aircraft Carrier. It was a museum then. Unfortunately, it was open only for certain months, and not when I went.

I don't think they did enough to preserve it as a museum. Poor planning I say.
 

Yusuf

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This thread to celebrate INS Vikrant in IN. Pls post photos,achievements,stories about it while it was in commission
 

ninja85

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Their is actually nothing much to talk about, Its a tragedy ..

I hope same fate does not happen with Virrat, Rather push it for another 10 years as Helicopter carrier ..
why should spend money on maintaining retired a ship which was british in reality.
 

Yusuf

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Guys this thread should be kept to only posting pictures & info of the ship while it was in service
@Kunalbiswas @pmaitra please take care. No need for unnecessary discussion
 
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Kunal Biswas

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Enter INS Vikrant, R11…..carrier aviation comes to Asia



Photo 3A: On 4th March 1961 INS Vikrant (means 'Courageous') commissioned into the Indian Navy. She carried the pennant number R11. This photo was taken a few days before her commissioning. Vikrant was a Majestic class light carrier laid down in World War II and left 75% complete at war's end in 1945. She lay incomplete till the British offered her to us in 1957. At Rs 100 crores (US $200 million then; like $600 million today) the budget for her was hefty for those times. Lord Louis Mountbatten then Chief of the Royal Navy advised Nehru that without a carrier our Navy wouldn't amount for much and it takes a generation to develop carrier operating capabilities and this chance may not come again soon (and how right he was about that). Nehru being the visionary he was decided for the motion. Good for us because in the 54 years since 1961 there have been only 4 instances of a carrier being sold by one nation to another (other than the sale of INS Viraat and INS Vikramaditya to India). Nations that know how to design & build carriers usually don't like selling them hence our journey to design and build our own (see Photo 13A below). Photo source $$



Photo 3C: INS Vikrant - Displacement 19500 tonnes; Top Speed 24.5 knots (45 kmph), sustained speed 23 knots (42 kmph), range ~6000 nautical miles (~11,000 km) at full speed or ~12,000 nautical miles (~22,000 km) at a slow cruise of 14 knots (~26 kmph) with reserves. Aircraft complement around 21 though at times she carried 23 even. Crew size ~1400. As originally built armament was basic in the form of 15 Bofors 40mm anti aircraft guns. She had several facilities needed to support long cruises including a surgery theatre, a barbers shop, a dental clinic, a library, a mini-prison (!) to name a few. In the 1960s and 1970s INS Vikrant was a name most school boys and families from middle class India would recognize instantly. Photo source ##
 

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Photo 3D: Layout of INS Vikrant, as originally built, beautifully depicted above. Copyright K.W. Vestergaard



Photo 3E: Take-off from the limited space of a carrier deck is assisted by a catapult that is fired in a barrel driven by high pressure super heated steam much like a bullet is fired from a barrel by exploding gases. The aircraft is tied to the catapult hook and accelerates up to 160 to 200 kmph in the space of 65 metres. Landing is by hooking the tail hook of the aircraft onto one of the 4 arrestor wires which in turn are attached to hydraulic brakes - see Photo 4A and 5B. Photo source @@


Breguet Alize's - anti-submarine and electronic surveillance aircraft



Photo 4A: In the 1960s and 1970s the INS Vikrant embarked two main types - the French Breguet Alize and the British Hawker Seahawk. Breguet is the name of the manufacturer and Alize the name of the specific aircraft type. Photo shows a Alize coming in to land with its tail hook extended to catch the arrestor wire. The Alize was a propeller driven anti-submarine and surveillance aircraft with an advanced electronics suite and a useful low altitude patrol endurance of 5 hours. Photo source Airliners.Net





Photo 4C: A computer generated image of an Alize clearly illustrating its vital parts. The aircraft was powered by a 2100 hp Rolls Royce Dart turboprop, had a maximum speed of 520 kmph, range of 2500 kms and carried torpedoes, depth charges, bombs and rockets as its armament. Because of its advanced electronic surveillance suite the Alize was often used for electronic reconnaissance of our adversary's coasts & borders and monitoring enemy radars. A total of 14 Alize's were bought. They served in 1965, 1971 and the ill advised Indian foray into Sri Lanka 1987-89.
 

Kunal Biswas

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Photo 4D: Very first landing on Vikrant by an Alize of the Indian Navy. May 1961 off the coast of France. A part of the ship's company is out to have a good look at the new bird. The engine is still running as the aircraft taxis to its parking bay and the wings have just been folded prior to engine cut off. This first landing was by Lieutenant Commander Mihir Roy who later rose to head the Eastern Naval Command. In an emergency the Alize, with its excellent low speed handling, could actually takeoff, without the steam catapult, by running the full length of the 700 foot deck with the carrier steaming full speed into the wind to give those precious extra knots of wind to lift the aircraft and the pilot sending a prayer to the 'Pilot' above. Photo source @@





Photo 5B: First ever landing on INS Vikrant by any aircraft or pilot - Lieutenant RH Tahiliani coming in to log the first tail hook on an Indian carrier. You have now seen the first aviator, the first naval aircraft, the first carrier, the first naval squadron and the first landing on an Indian carrier. Photo source @@
 

Kunal Biswas

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In combat...INS Vikrant's finest hour, 1971



Photo 6A: In the 1971 operations off the coast of East Pakistan the Seahawks flew a few hundred sorties successfully attacking fuel storage facilities, airstrips, patrol boats, merchant shipping, anti-aircraft batteries and troop concentrations. The Commanding Officer of the Seahawk squadron, the White tigers, Lieutenant Commander SK Gupta was awarded the Maha Vir Chakra. Gupta is quite the maverick what in Bombay lingo will be called 'bindaas'. You can read an unusual anecdote on him in post #24 at http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/commer...dian-navy.html Photo source @@



Photo 6B: INS Vikrant herself had quite story in December 1971. She slipped out to the Andamans weeks before hostilities commenced. The Pakistanis who were led to believe, through deceptive but convincing radio signals, that she was in Chennai or Vishakhapatnam sent their submarine Gazi to sink her. Radio operators of Vikrant were parked abroad an obsolete destroyer, INS Ranjit, busy sending signals as if from Vikrant - ordering aircraft ammo & spares, mimicking signals as if test flights were going on from the deck etc. We ensured our enemy knew the signaling fingerprints of Vikrant's radio operators. The ploy worked. The adversary fell for the oldest trick in the signalman's book. Gazi parked herself first at Chennai then Vishakhapatnam hunting for a carrier that was not there. She sank after an internal explosion probably by hitting one of the mines she had laid for INS Vikrant. INS Vikrant meanwhile steamed up to East Pakistan on 3rd December'71 and blockaded the coast completely. The full story can be read in post number #38 at http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/commer...dian-navy.html Photo source %%




Photo 6C: In the 1965 operations against Pakistan the Alize's were used to track and map the exact position of enemy radars and the nature of their radar waves. This data was then used by the IAF to attack the pin-pointed radar stations. In the 1971 operations the Alize's operated mainly against East Pakistan sinking over 100,000 tonnes of coastal shipping, naval patrol boats and minesweepers. Eight operational Alize's carried out 291 sorties in 10 days against land and sea targets i.e. 3.5 combat missions per day per aircraft & crew. Because of their radar and navigation aids Alize's were capable of operating at night with precision and this capability was used to keep up a 24/7 pressure on the opposing forces. The crews of the Alize's won 6 Vir Chakras in '71. Photo source &&



Photo 10G: On 10th May, 1987 INS Vikrant celebrated her last steam catapult launch by Commander RK Singh. It was also the last catapult launch of the Navy ever since (other than training sorties by our aviators on US carriers). The Flight Deck Officer, thoughtfully, at his own initiative put on the full Naval uniform for the occasion with the ceremonial sword (see arrow). Sadly the Navy did not capture the moment on print. This photo had to be dug out of someone's personal collection.`

 

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