The ship has over 2,300 compartments, designed for a crew of around 1,700 people

The Navy’s proposal of 2017 for a second IAC, the IAC-2, may not fructify, with the Defence ministry declining approval for the project it deems exorbitant for its estimated cost of around $10 billion. At 65,000t, the IAC-2 was envisaged as India’s largest carrier, with Catapult Assisted Take-Off (CATOBAR) capability. Indeed, an Indian Navy delegation had visited the UK in 2019 to consult with BAE Systems on the design and construction processes of the 65,000t HMS Queen Elizabeth that it had built as the largest and most powerful vessel for the Royal Navy.

India was the first country in Asia to operate an aircraft carrier upon acquiring the 19,500t INS Vikrant (former HMS Hercules, and the forebear of the present Vikrant) from Britain in 1961, which was followed by its acquisition of the 28,700t INS Viraat (former HMS Hermes) also from Britain in 1987. While INS Vikrant was decommissioned in 1997, INS Viraat was paid off in March.

Both became the world’s oldest operational carriers, the hull of Vikrant having been laid down in 1943 and launched in 1945 and of Viraat, in 1944, but not launched until 1953. Vikrant also played a historic role when it spearheaded the navy’s stupendous expedition through the Bay of Bengal to East Pakistan during the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war.

“It remains a matter of deep regret that in the course of these 50 years, we as a Navy and a country have consigned two of our iconic aircraft carriers, INS Vikrant and INS Viraat, to the ship breakers!” regretted retired Navy chief, Admiral L. Ramdas, while speaking at the celebrations of the Swarn Mahotsav (golden jubilee) of the 1971 Bangladesh Operations, aptly titled ‘Vikrant’s Glorious Hour’. “The truth is that there was apparently neither the will nor the determination to convert at least one of these carriers into a state-of-the-art museum; imagine the inspiration this could have provided to future generations, not to mention the general public.”