FROM IAC VIKRANT TO INS VIKRANT

A journey through the history of India's first ever indigenous aircraft carrier.

The honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday commisioned the first ever completly self crafted aircraft carrier of India in Cochin- The queen of Arabian sea.

Indigenous Aircraft Carrier one (IAC 01) which later came to be known as IAC Vikrant was again renamed as INS (Indian Naval Ship)Vikrant last Friday.

The first ever aircraft carrier that India owned was INS vikrant 01 which was bought secondhandedly from the british in 1957... The aircraft was called the HMS Hercules by the British before remodelling and was their main war ship during world war two.. India bought and remodeled HMS Hercules and it was introduced to the Indian navy in 1961 as INS Vikrant after which it served the country for about 4 decades including during the time of indo-pak war in 1971 and was later decommisioned in 1997.

As sri Narandra Modi said in his speech on Friday, Vikrant is special.. It is superior.. It will be the new sunrise the country awaits... The pride that will raise our reputation in international levels.

With a length of 262 meters, the capacity to hold 45000 tons of weight, a speed of 28 nautical mile and about 2000 compartments and highly specialized telecommunication system the new INS Vikrant is indeed special compared to its predecessor...

Speaking about the history of the new INS Vikrant,  George Fernandez the previous defence minster of India gave the responsibility of building the first ever indeginous aircraft carrier of india to Cochin shipyard in 2002.. The work was supposed to be completed by 2010 and commisioned by 2014... But Russia, who had promised to supply the special kind of steel required to build aircraft carriers, backed out of the agreement resulting in the delay... However

India took up the task in their own hands and with the help of DRDO 21000 tons of special steel was manufactured at home by the Indian steel authority..

The valor of INS Vikrant carries forward... As the name suggests Vikrant has set sail to become the renewed strength of Indian navy and to protect the sea borders of india.

BY Aleena Liz BCJ 2nd year