INS Viraat

	INS Viraat (R22) in 2002
India
Name	Viraat
Acquired	May 1987
Recommissioned	12 May 1987
Decommissioned	6 March 2017
Out of service	23 July 2016
Refit	April 1986, July 1999, Mid-2003-November 2004, August 2008-November 2009, November 2012-July 2013
Homeport	Mumbai, Maharashtra
Identification	Pennant number: R22
Motto	Jalameva Yasya, Balameva Tasya (Sanskrit: "He who rules over the seas is all powerful")
Nickname(s)	Grand Old Lady
Fate	Scrapped at Alang, 2021.
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Hermes (R12)
Ordered	1943
Builder	Vickers-Armstrong
Laid down	21 June 1944
Launched	16 February 1953
Commissioned	25 November 1959
Decommissioned	1984
Stricken	1985
Homeport	HMNB Portsmouth
Identification	Pennant number: R12
Fate	Sold to India in 1986
General characteristics
Class and type	Centaur-class light aircraft carrier
Displacement	23,900 tons standard; 28,700 tons full load;
Length	226.5 m (743 ft)
Beam	48.78 m (160.0 ft)
Draught	8.8 m (29 ft)
Propulsion	2 × Parsons geared steam turbines; 4 boilers with 400 psi, 76,000 shp (57,000 kW)
Speed	28 knots (52 km/h)
Range	6,500 mi (10,500 km) at 14 knots (26 km/h)
Complement	Maximum 2,100;; 1,207 ship's crew,; 143 air crew;
Sensors and ; processing systems	1 × BEL/Signaal RAWL 02 air radar; 1 × RAWS 08 air/surface radar; 2 × BEL Rashmi navigation radars; 1 × EL/M-2221 STGR fire control radar; 1 × Plessey Type 904 radar; 1 × FT 13-S/M Tacan system; Sonar:; 1 × Graseby Type 184M hull-mounted sonar;
Electronic warfare ; & decoys	1 × BEL Ajanta ESM; Decoy:; 2 × Knebworth Corvus chaff launchers;
Armament	2 × 40 mm Bofors AA guns; 16 × Barak SAM VL cells; 2 × twin AK-230 CIWS;
Aircraft carried	Up to 26 aircraft, including; 16 × British Aerospace Sea Harrier FRS51; 4 × Westland Sea King Mk.42B-C; 2 × HAL Chetak; 4 × HAL Dhruv;

INS Viraat (Sanskrit: Virāṭa meaning Giant) was a Centaur-class light aircraft carrier of the Indian Navy. INS Viraat was the flagship of the Indian Navy until INS Vikramaditya was commissioned in 2013. The ship was completed and commissioned in 1959 as the Royal Navy's HMS Hermes, and decommissioned in 1984. It was sold to India in 1987. INS Viraat was commissioned into the Indian Navy on 12 May 1987, and served for almost 30 years.

In February 2015, the Navy stated that Viraat would be decommissioned the following year. The last British-built ship serving with the Indian Navy, she was the oldest aircraft carrier in service in the world. On 23 July 2016, Viraat sailed for the last time under her own power from Mumbai to Kochi, where she was dry-docked and prepared for decommissioning. She was towed out of Kochi on 23 October, returning to Mumbai on 28 October, where she was laid up. Viraat was formally decommissioned on 6 March 2017. After the failure of plans to convert her into a hotel and museum, she was sold for scrap and planned to be broken up beginning in September 2020, but the scrapping was stayed by the Supreme Court of India after 40% of the body had already been scrapped.

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