INS Vikrant (R11)
INS Vikrant in 1984
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| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom
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| Name: | Hercules |
| Builder: | |
| Laid down: | 14 October 1943 |
| Launched: | 22 September 1945 |
| Commissioned: | Never commissioned |
| Identification: | Pennant number: R49 |
| Fate: | Laid up, 1947; Sold to India, 1957 |
 India
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| Name: | Vikrant |
| Acquired: | 1957 |
| Commissioned: | 4 March 1961 |
| Decommissioned: | 31 January 1997 |
| Homeport: | Bombay |
| Identification: | Pennant number: R11 |
| Motto: |
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| Fate: | Scrapped, 2014 |
| Badge: |  |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Majestic-class light carrier |
| Displacement: | |
| Length: | 700 ft (210 m) (o/a) |
| Beam: | 128 ft (39 m) |
| Draught: | 24 ft (7.3 m) |
| Installed power: |
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| Propulsion: | 2 shafts; 2 Parsons geared steam turbines |
| Speed: | 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph) |
| Range: |
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| Complement: | 1,110 |
| Sensors and processing systems: |
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| Armament: | 16 × 40 mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns (later reduced to 8) |
| Aircraft carried: | 21–23 |
| Aviation facilities: |
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INS Vikrant (Sanskrit: विक्रान्त, for courageous) was a Majestic-class aircraft carrier of the Indian Navy. The ship was built as HMS Hercules for the Royal Navy during World War II, but construction was put on hold after the war, and she never entered British service. India purchased the incomplete carrier from the United Kingdom in 1957, and construction was completed in 1961. INS Vikrant was commissioned as the first aircraft carrier of the Indian Navy and played a key role in enforcing the naval blockade of East Pakistan during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971.
The ship was decommissioned in January 1997 and, from 1997 to 2012, she was preserved as a museum ship in Cuffe Parade, Mumbai, until it was closed in 2012 due to safety concerns. In January 2014, the ship was sold through an online auction and scrapped in November 2014 after final clearance from the Supreme Court.
During the early years of World War II, the Royal Navy built a fleet of light aircraft carriers to counter the German and Japanese navies. The 1942 Design Light Fleet Carrier, commonly referred to as the British Light Fleet Carrier, was the result. Used by eight navies between 1944 and 2001, they were designed and constructed by civilian shipyards to serve as an intermediate step between the expensive, full-sized fleet aircraft carriers and the less expensive and more-quickly-built but limited-capability escort carriers.
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Wikipedia