The first made-in-India aircraft carrier – INS Vikrant – was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday. Calling it a “historic occassion” and an “exceptional symbol of self-reliant India”, the Prime Minister commissioned the carrier at a function organised at the Cochin Shipyard Limited in Kochi, Kerala.
Built at a cost of ₹20,000 crore, INS Vikrant has state-of-the-art automation features and is the largest ship ever built in the maritime history of India. It is as big as the size of two football fields, the Indian Navy said in a video. It has a large amount of indigenous equipment and machinery, involving major industrial houses in the country as well as over 100 MSMEs. The carrier displaces about 45,000 tonnes, making it the largest warship in the Indian naval inventory.
‘Vikrant’ got its name from the illustrious predecessor, India’s first aircraft carrier, which had played a vital role in the 1971 war. It is designed by the Indian Navy’s in-house Warship Design Bureau (WDB) and built by Cochin Shipyard Limited, a Public Sector Shipyard under the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways.
According to the Indian Navy, the 262-meter-long carrier INS Vikrant has a full displacement of close to 45,000 tonnes which is much larger and more advanced than its predecessor. According to the Navy, the hangar that will house the aircraft is big enough to accommodate two Olympic pools.
Termed as a floating city with 18 floors, INS Vikrant consists of 14 decks with 2,300 compartments which can carry around 1,500 sea warriors and to cater to the food requirements, around 10,000 chapatis or rotis are made in the ship’s kitchen, which is called the ship’s galley.
