First indigenous aircraft carrier Vikrant handed over to Navy

On a cold, blustery morning in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in March 1961, India’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, ran up the Indian Navy flag on Her Majesty’s Ship (HMS) Hercules, a Royal Navy aircraft carrier that was being repurposed as Indian Naval Ship (INS) Vikrant. 

Until the Vikrant was decommissioned on January 31, 1997, she served the Indian Navy well. During the 1971 war, INS Vikrant blockaded Bangla­esh, with its Seahawk fighter aircraft wreaking carnage on Chittagong and Cox’s Bazaar.

Since 1997, the Vikrant has been a floating maritime museum, moored off Mumbai. But good navies