I remember my very first sight of the then HMS Hermes, back in 1983. We were DLQ on the old Sea Hawk, which used to ‘land and then stop’.—Admiral Arun Prakash, PVSM, AVSM, VrC, VSM, ADC (Retired), who commanded the Viraat in 1990–1991, and was one of the officers who welcomed INS Viraat along with the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on board. And then she emerged from the gloom, this famous, majestic warship, flying Indian colours. The Western Fleet proudly rendered ‘Teen Jais’ to welcome its Water-Based Dispersion Coating Paper Cups new flagship.When we welcomed INS Viraat, it was a typical monsoon day with frequent rain-squalls, gale-force winds and heavy seas.K.INS Viraat was the longest-serving aircraft carrier in the world, having served in the British Royal Navy before its tenure in India. We had no idea then that she was destined to become ‘Mother’ for Indian Navy aviators.But much to the subsequent delight though initial apprehensions, we sailed the ship up to Gujarat and embarked the squadron directly from the air force base.It was quite a monumental action, and squadrons were delighted to see that the ship had gone out of its way to welcome them.—Admiral D.
And it came out that we had to compress the time for squadrons in Gujarat.But now, Indian Navy’s second aircraft-carrier ship, which was in the services for 29 years before being decommissioned in 2017, is headed for the last leg of her journey to Alang in Gujarat, leaving the Mumbai Port on 20 September. We entered the port of Abu Dhabi and when we were there, another newly built French aircraft carrier “Charles de Gaulle” entered the port.“There she must bide her time until her next reincarnation when she will once again see the White Ensign aflutter and be once more India’s pride and joy,” says an emotional Vice Admiral Chauhan. After an exciting day, we departed Hermes, DLQs in hand. As they talk to us, the Commanding Officers feel privileged yet deeply humbled to have commanded the most regal warship.
India brought the tenth Hermes and named her as INS Viraat, which later became the eleventh incarnation of the ship, and commissioned her into the Indian Navy on 12 May 1987. It was a delightful feeling that would go down with me when I am hopefully lowered into the water at the end of my life.Viratees recollect their time on the ship not as a job but as life itself. As the ship rolled and pitched, we peered anxiously through pouring rain for the first glimpse of INS Viraat. But this was different — the Sea Harrier ‘first stopped and then landed’.That top of the world feelingIf you ask me whether I would want to do it again, by all means I would love to. When I took over INS Viraat, she was to undergo a major refit in Cochin and she was to be sailed across from Mumbai to Cochin. The coincidence was that INS Viraat was the oldest aircraft carrier in the world and the French one was just a couple of months old in 2001
qwte