INS Viraat, the world's oldest aircraft carrier, was accorded a grand send-off from the port city in Kochi on Sunday, after over five decades of its service to the Navy.
The Indian Navy's flagship carrier, the INS Viraat will be decommissioned on March 6 after serving the nation for 30 glorious years.
The fate of the 27,800 tonne warship remains unclear.
India's majestic aircraft carrier INS Viraat, which is slated to be decommissioned later this year, set sail for the last time from Mumbai for Kochi on Saturday.
Patil, the supreme commander of the country's armed forces, will get on board the ship at around 11 am on Wednesday, a spokesman of the Indian Navy said in Mumbai.
In 2014, INS Vikrant was dismantled in Mumbai.
Indian Navy's INS Viraat, the oldest warship in the world still in service, will sail into the sunset on Monday as the Naval Ensign and the Commissioning Pendent is lowered for the last time, drawing the curtain on a splendid period in India's naval history.
Modi's attack on the late prime minister comes on the heels of his allegation that Rajiv Gandhi died as a 'brashtachari no 1'.
The SC took note of the fact that the Ministry of Defence has refused to accept the representation of private firm Envitech Marine Consultants Pvt Ltd that the decommissioned aircraft carrier be preserved.
Vice Admiral Vinod Pasricha (Retd), who was commanding the ship during the then prime minister's visit, said all protocols were followed during Gandhi's official trip in 1987, adding no foreigners or other guests were present.
The navy's sole aircraft carrier INS Viraat can continue its service for another three years, the Lok Sabha was informed on Monday.
The ministry of defence is considering converting the last British ship serving the Indian Navy into a self-sustaining aircraft carrier museum on the lines of the US Navy's Aircraft Carrier Museum.
The ship will then be towed back to Mumbai where it will be decommissioned.
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One sailor was killed and three others were injured after a fire broke out onboard India's soon to be decommissioned aircraft carrier INS Viraat in Goa on Sunday.
It looks as if India's plan to have three carrier battle groups, centred around INS Viraat, INS Vikramaditya and an indigenously built aircraft carrier in Cochin shipyard, has suffered a huge setback, reports RS Chauhan
The defence minister will also be on board the country's latest indigenous stealth frigate INS Shivalik and witness the live firing of lethal missiles including the supersonic BrahMos cruise missile, Defence Ministry officials said in New Delhi on Monday.
The sole aircraft carrier of the country, INS Viraat has completed 25 years of its active service with the Indian Navy. We bring you some facts about the aircraft carrier
On September 30, 2025, President Droupadi Murmu presented the diamond jubilee Silver Trumpet and Trumpet Banner to the President's Bodyguard at a ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan in recognition of 75 years of glorious service.
A private company, which showed interest in converting Viraat into a museum, is yet to get a NOC for the project from the MoD.
The Supreme Court Wednesday ordered status quo on the dismantling of India's decommissioned aircraft carrier 'Viraat' which was in service with the Indian Navy for nearly three decades.
Over 40 per cent of the dismantling work has been completed so far, said Mukesh Patel, Chairman of Shree Ram Group based at Alang in Bhavnagar district which bought the ship at an auction in July last year for Rs 38.54 crore.
A Kerala state owned boat ferrying about 100 passengers rammed into aircraft carrier INS Viraat in Kochi, naval sources said on Monday.
India's second aircraft carrier, INS Viraat, drydocked at Cochin Shipyard Ltd for extensive maintenance work and re-fit, is expected to leave for Mumbai by this month end and hopes to join the fleet around mid-year.
For Navy veterans who watched the huge vessel being towed away by a tug boat, it was an emotional moment as they stood near the Gateway of India, waving at the once 'floating town', aboard which they spent the best years of their career.
During the exercises, the Navy's Sea Harriers would operate sorties from the French carrier.
In a letter to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, party MP and spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi stated, "It would be a crying shame if we let go our history without giving the benefit of knowledge to our future generation.
The world's longest serving warship was decommissioned by the Indian Navy four years ago. It is being dismantled with the help of around 300 trained workers at one of the plots owned by ship breaking firm, Patel said.
After a gap of over two decades, India is operating two aircraft carriers in its maritime zone with the arrival of its largest warship INS Vikramaditya in the Arabian Sea where it is now operating with INS Viraat
Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said retired Indian Navy Vice Admiral Vinod Pasricha has clarified that the then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was on an official visit on INS Viraat and not on a vacation.
Defence Minister Arun Jaitley visited the aircraft carrier INS Viraat in Mumbai on Saturday.
A woman, whose husband went missing from aircraft carrier INS Viraat around ten years ago, has moved the Bombay High Court challenging the Navy declaring her husband a 'deserter'. According to petitioner Pratibha Raghuram, she was evicted from her house in Navy Nagar in Mumbai in December 1998, barely one month after her husband Raghuram went missing from INS Viraat, which was docked in Goa.
During his long and distinguished service spanning nearly 39 years, the Admiral has served in a variety of command, staff and instructional appointments.
The PM's 'Day at Sea' will be on Friday off the Goa coast -- accompanied by his wife Gursharan Kaur, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Home Minister Shivraj Patil and others.
Beyond the British and Russian strands interwoven into the Indian Navy's equipment profile and the strong drive towards indigenisation evident today, its future in aircraft carriers appears increasingly linked with America.
The MiG29K and MiG29KUB, the aircraft carrier's primary fighters, spent more time in the hangar than in the air, with fleet serviceability remaining below 50 per cent, reports Ajai Shukla.
It was a momentous moment for India when after a gap of over two decades its navy operated two aircraft carriers in its maritime zone with the arrival of its largest warship INS Vikramaditya in the Arabian Sea where it is now operating with INS Viraat.
The majestic carrier, decommissioned in 1997, would be turned into a museum and would be a self-sustaining project.
Vice Admiral R Hari Kumar will take charge as the next chief of the Indian Navy after the incumbent, Admiral Karambir Singh, retires on November 30, the defence ministry announced on Tuesday.
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