INS Vikrant (1961)

Indian Aircraft Carrier 1961-1997

The first Indian Aircraft Carrier was the former light fleet carrier HMS Hercules (Majestic class) ordered in 1942, laid down in October 1943, launched 22 September 1945 and construction suspended in May 1946, 75% complete. Purchased in January 1957 by India, towed to Belfast for completion and modernization by Harland and Wolff. Like other rebuilt carriers, she had an angled deck, steam catapults, and a modified island with modern lattice masts for radars. As completed, she displaced 19,500t (19,200 long tons) deeply loaded and could carry up to 23 aircraft. After transferring to India and training, modifications and trials, INS Vikrant was commissioned on 4 March 1961. “Courageous” had been active until 1991 (pennant R91), then placed in reserve, museum ship, and eventually scrapped. She is a veteran of the invasion of Goa and two India-Pak wars (1965 and 1971). Aside Chetak (Alouette III) helicopter and Westland Sea King she operated a squadron of Hawker Sea Hawk and another of ASW turboprop Breguet Alizé ASW patrol aircraft.

Development

HMS Hercules mothballed incomplete in Scotland, 1947-57.
Like many cold war carriers ending in fleets not previously having any, Vikrant (“courageous”) could trace her roots to the 1942 light fleet carrier program initiated by the Royal Navy in order to bolster its carrier fleet with cheap, unprotected and simple carriers that could be built in Civilian yards after doing gradual experiences with the Flower class corvettes and River class Frigates. The empty hulls with their powerplant were then delivered to naval yards for fitting out.

In 1943 the Royal Navy commissioned the six first light aircraft carriers of the program (only 4 operational at the end of the Pacific campaign). After the Colossus were built the Majestic and Centaur classes, and postwar they served in eight navies from 1944 and 2001, despite being little expensive, limited-capability escort emergency carriers. Sixteen light fleet carriers ordered were planned by many were modified during construction to handle larger and faster aircraft and this was the next Majestic class.

They had many improvements besides their heavier displacement, in armament, catapult, stronger aircraft lifts, decks, and aircraft capacity. Construction was suspended in September 1945 waiting for a decision as they were now surplus to requirement. It was decided by the next government to have them modernized and sold to several Commonwealth nations. Requirements changes thus between them.

HMS Hercules was the fifth if the Majestic class. She was ordered on 7 August 1942, laid down on 14 October 1943 at Vickers-Armstrongs, High Walker, River Tyne. She was launched on 22 September 1945 but construction was suspended in May 1946 when 75 per cent complete. Her hull was preserved to avoid corrosion, though. By May 1947, she was laid up in Gareloch, Clyde.

In January 1957, so ten years afterwards, having found no customer, she was eventually purchased by India, towed to Belfast to complete construction and integrate many modifications at Harland & Wolff (the ones that built Titanic and their sisters as well as Majestic class ships). Not only it was proposed to modernize these after the schemed adopted for her sisters to handle jets, but improvements were ordered by the Indian Navy. She was to be completed with a angled deck, powerful steam catapults and a modified island. New sensors were also to be mounted.

INS Vikrant Island in 1997

Design of the class

Hull and general design

As completed, Vikrant had a displacement of 16,000 t (15,750 long tons) standard, 19,500 t (19,200 long tons) deeply loaded. Her overall length was now just of 700 ft (210 m), for a beam of 128 ft (39 m) and mean deep draught of 24 ft (7.3 m). Externally, her island was the greatest giveaway, with a twin gallery on her port side offset to the level of the forward bridge. She also had a specific tripod mast, much reinforced for extra sensors.

She had no internal protection apart passive measures such as bulkheads and extensive separations below the waterline. There were 10mm mantlets around aircraft torpedoes warheads rooms. Longitudinal watertight bulkheads covered the machinery. They had fire-fighting equipments and spinklers in the main hangar with curtains. Later this was further upgrade with a better air conditioning system and halon-based fire extinguishers.

Powerplant

She kept her original powerplant, equivalent to a Fiji-class cruiser, with a pair of Parsons geared steam turbines driving two propeller shafts. The steam came from four Admiralty three-drum boilers. Total output was 40,000 indicated horsepower (30,000 kW) for a maximal top speed of 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph), a bit “light” for fleet carriers. Regular British armoured carriers were much faster. But that top speed matched the Nelson class and was superior to the Queen Elisabeth and Revenge class. Vikrant had modified internal arrangements and could carry 3,175 t (3,125 long tons) of fuel oil. Range was thus 12,000 nmi (22,000 km; 14,000 mi) at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph). At near-full speed of 23 knots (43 km/h; 26 mph) this was still 6,200 mi (10,000 km), so half. This was enough to criss-cross the Indian Ocean on the west or east coast with ease.

Armament

Bofors 40 mm Mark 5, Mark 7

Bofors 40mm/60 Mark 7
She had originally sixteen 40-millimetre (1.6 in) Bofors anti-aircraft guns placed in deck side sponsons, in four twin mounts in the inner sponsons and single guns on the outer sponsons alternated forward starboard and aft port. They were of the latest Mk 5 (twin) and Mark 7 (single) types. But these were reduced to eight in 1979-82. Clearly by that time they were completely obsolete, albeit still radar-guided.

Sensors

In 1961:
Type 960
Type 977Q
Type 293Q
Type 963 radars
Post 1979 refit:
LW-05 air-search radar
ZW-06 surface-search radar
LW-10 tactical radar
Type 963 aircraft-landing radar

Facilities & Air Group

Her flight deck was designed to handle aircraft up to 24,000 lb (11,000 kg), but 20,000 lb (9,100 kg) remained the heaviest landing weight.
Flight Deck: 210.3 meters long x 32 meters (690 x 105 ft) wide after completion for 5,131m² (55,230 ft sq) in surface
Hangar: 135.6 x 15.8 x 5.3m (445 x 34 x 17 ft) for 2,142m² (23,050 ft sq) or 11,355m³ (401,000 cu. ft) in volume.
Two lifts: 16.5 x 10.4m (54 x 34 ft) for 6.8t.
Steam Catapult: BS-4, c6 tonnes projection force.
Aircraft fuel stowage: 341,000 metric liters.
In 1989 Vikrant received a 9.75 degree ski jump so to be able to operate the Harrier.

Hawks of the RIN in 1971

Hawker Sea Hawk FGA6 300 Sqn. INS Vikrant 1968

BAE Sea Harrier FRS.51, 300 Squadron, INS Vikrant 1983

Alizé taking off in 1971

Indian Sea King Mk 42

In 1961 she carried ten British Hawker Sea Hawk and four French Breguet Alizé as well as two Aerospatiale Alouette II SAR helicopters.
In 1975, she had twelve Sea Hawk, still four Alizé but two Cheetak (local Alouette)
In 1985 she transitioned to six Sea Harrier Mk 51, still kept her four Alizé but now had a complementary ASW park of nine Sea King
In 1989 she only kept a park of six Sea Harrier Mk 51 and nine Sea King Mk 42 (12 helicopter total).

Conways profile

Gallery

Career of INS Vikrant

India’s first aircraft carrier was commissioned as INS Vikrant on 4 March 1961 in Belfast. There, was a delegation led by High Ciommissioner Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit. The name “Vikrant” was chosen as its Sanskrit roots “vikrānta” either standing for “stepping beyond”, “courageous” or “bold”. Captain Pritam Singh Mahindroo had the honor of being appointed its first commanding officer. Two squadrons were also loaded on board, INAS 300 commanded by Lieutenant Commander B. R. Acharya (Hawker Sea Hawk fighter-bombers of FG.3) and INAS 310, under Lieutenant Commander Mihir K. Roy, with French Breguet Alizé anti-submarine aircraft loaded on the other side of the Channel. On 18 May 1961, the first jet landed, piloted by Lt. Radhakrishna Hariram Tahiliani, later admiral and CiC 1984-1987. Vikrant arrived after a long trip to Bombay (now Mumbai) on 3 November 1961, greeted by a massive crowd at the Ballard Pier and PM Jawaharlal Nehru.

In December she was deployed in Operation Vijay, the annexation of Goa escorted by two destroyers, INS Rajput and INS Kirpan. She remained off the coast to deter foreign interference. She was also not deployed during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, being in drydock overhaul.
In June 1970 she was again in refit at the Naval Dockyard of Bombay when internal fatigue cracks in the boiler water drums were observed. They were repaired by intensive welding while four replacement drums were ordered from Britain. By safety, the boilers were kept cold until further notice and the ship trained at anchor. On 26 February 1971 she left the Ballard Pier still without replacement drum, testing lighting up the boilers at reduced pressure, to at least power the catapults and complete training after seven months. On 1 March, the boilers were ignited and the shafts drove at 40 RPM with Catapult trials.
She had preliminary sea trials on 18 March, and then 26–27 April with the boilers maintained at 400 Ibs/Sq in. (2,800 kPa), 120 RPM so to reach 14 knots.

This was forced ahead to plummitting relations with Pakistan. It was decided to transfer Vikrant to a more strategic location and test her serviceability with Fleet Operations Officer Captain Gulab Mohanlal Hiranandani being the most concerned, speaking of a “white elephant” and still flying no aircraft. The tireless Nanda and Hiranandani pushed ahead and it paid off, just as news fall about three Daphne-class submarines being just acquired by Pakistan. In June, deep sea trials were performed with steel safety harnesses around the three boilers and observation windows fitted to detect any steam leaks. It was complete by late June and she was cleared for operations at 14 knots.

She was assigned to the Eastern Naval Command, Eastern Fleet. INS Vikrant was escorted by two Leopard-class frigates (INS Brahmaputra and INS Beas) and two Petya III-class corvettes INS Kamorta and INS Kavaratti and the submarine INS Khanderi. The goal was to intercept the Pakistani maritime forces deployed to East Bengal. A surveillance perimeter of 18,000 square miles (47,000 km2) was set up in the Bay of Bengal and all ships inspected, if neutral, escorted to the nearest Indian port or else, captured.
Indian intel reported Pakistan deplyed the GUPPY PNS Ghazi, considered as a serious threat to Vikrant. In addition, INS Kavaratti had no sonar and the others needed to stay in close vicinity.

On 23 July 1971, INS Vikrant sailed off to Cochin just after Sea King had their first trials. They would be vital for ASW work (first dedicated Indian ASW heliicopters apart the Kamovs). She had radar and communication trials on 28 July and headed for Madras with INS Brahmaputra and Beas. Captain S. Prakash wanted to start flight operations but on this he was opposed by the Naval Headquarters, maintaining speed restrictions. It was soon asked to test if an Alizé could operate under these speed restrictions. This imposed to land at close to stalling speed.

Indian Sea Hawk as preserved 2000s

By late September, Vikrant arrived at Port Blair and off Visakhapatnam had tactical exercises with the Flag Officer CiC, Eastern Naval Command. She headed with her battle group to Madras for maintenance and hosted Rear Admiral S. H. Sarma from 14 October. Inted reported possible Pakistani preemptive strikes, so maintenance was stopped and the ship trained off Visakhapatnam 26–27 October, then returned to Madras to resume maintenance. On 13 November the battle group sailed for the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Deception signals were used to make the Pakistani believe she was in reality still between Madras and Vishakhapatnam. On 23 November there was an emergency in Pakistan after a troop clash in East Pakistan and on 2 December, the Eastern Fleet anticipated an attack, looking for the submarine Ghazi on 14 November. The latter arrived off Madras and deception from the Naval Headquarters had Rajput sent as a decoy 160 mi (260 km) off the coast of Vishakhapatnam, broadcasting radio traffic of air operations as she was Vikrant.

Ghazi unbeknowst from the naval staff, sank off the Visakhapatnam coast under unsolved circumstances. On the night of 3–4 December a coastal battery heard a muffled underwater explosion and debris were found by a local fisherman. A diving team later confirmed the sinking in shallow waters. It’s possible she was sank by Rajput, dropping two depth charges on a disturbance spot.

In any case, Vikrant was redeployed to Chittagong and on 4 December, her Sea Hawks attacked Pakistani shipping in nearby harbours, and turned to Khulna and the Port of Mongla until 10 December. They then started an all day round naval blockade of East Pakistan. On 14 December, Sea Hawks attacked Chittagong, little concerned by AA fire. Alizés, rearmed with bombs, destroyed Cox’s Bazar. When Vikrant’s fuel fell below 25% she sailed to Paradip. Her crew won two Maha Vir Chakras, twelve Vir Chakra gallantry medals.

Postwar, Vikrant’s career was less stellar. She still had two major modernisation refits in 1979 to 1981 (boilers, radars, communication, AA guns modernised, facilities for Sea Harriers) and in 1987-1989 (ski-jump ramp, more facilities for Sea Harrier and Sea King Mk 42B) and her steam catapult removed. In 1991, she had her penultimate, six-month refit, the a last 14-month refit in 1992–94 to better operate Sea Harriers, Sea Kings and Chetaks.
Her last sortie was clebrated on 23 November 1994, while a fire borke out bu was mastered quickly. In January 1995 the navy decided to have her laid up she was decommissioned on 31 January 1997. This was not the end. She was earmarked for preservation as a museum ship in Mumbai, marred by the lack of funding.
In 2001 she was still opened to the public but “as is” and she could not be converted as a true museum for the long-term. Deemed unsafe she was closed in 2012.In 2013, VADM Shekhar Sinha CIC Western Naval Command said no private bidders had come forward to convert her as a museum and she wa splaced in auction from 3 December.

Vikrant as “museum” ship (she was just visited in her initial state when decommissioned in 2001-2012).

In January 2014, she was sold to Darukhana for ₹60 crore (US$6.9 million) while Supreme Court of India dismissed two lawsuit to prevent scrapping. This commeced on 22 November 2014. It was dsicovered also that funds for here preservation had been kept for private use, leading to a trial. Still, the Vikrant Memorial wa sinaugurated by VADM Surinder Pal Singh Cheema at K Subash Marg Naval Dockyard Mumbai, on 25 January 2016 from metal recovered. She was to have a succession with the new INS Vikrant as the very first Indian-built carrier, by Cochin Shipyard, 40,000 t, laid down 2009, launched 2013, commissioned on 2 September 2022 ensuring a continuation. The Indian “ark royal”?

Read More/Src

Books

Chant, Christopher (2014), A Compendium of Armaments and Military Hardware, Routledge.
Hiranandani, Gulab Mohanlal (2000), Transition to Triumph: History of the Indian Navy, 1965–1975, Lancer Publishers LLC
Hiranandani, Gulab Mohanlal (2009), Transition to Guardianship: The Indian Navy, 1991–2000, Lancer Publishers LLC
Hobbs, David (2014), British Aircraft Carriers: Design, Development & Service Histories, Seaforth Publishing
Konstam, Angus (2012), The Aviation History, Books on Demand.
Roy, Mihir K. (1995), War in the Indian Ocean, Lancer Publishers
Till, Geoffrey (2013), Seapower: A Guide for the Twenty-First Century, Routledge

Links

https://www.navypedia.org/ships/india/in_cv_vikrant.htm
https://navalmarinearchive.com/research/docs/steam_catapults.html
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/commercial-vehicles/157827-indian-aviation-hawker-seahawk-indian-navy.html
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:INS_Vikrant_(ship,_1961)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/INS_Vikrant_(1961)
https://web.archive.org/web/20161110235054/http://www.bajajauto.com/v/mission71/mission-vikrant-gallery.aspx?id=12
kits on scalemates.com

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