After decommissioning, aircraft carrier INS Viraat likely to be converted into museum

Indian Navy's warhorse INS Viraat, which is to be decommissioned in February 2016 may not meet the same disgraceful and unfortunate fate as that of INS Vikrant which after retiring from service had to be sold off as scrap last year after it found no takers despite being famously hailed as one of the 1971 war hero.

The ministry of defence (MoD) has initiated efforts to convert it into a museum after its decommissioning to keep the aircraft carrier's rich legacy alive.

Sources in the MoD told dna that the government is soon going to write to the nine maritime state governments - West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra and Gujarat - asking them if they would be interested in taking the custody of the decommissioned ship.

Corroborating this, naval sources said that defence secretary G Mohan Kumar's office has already taken Navy's suggestion over this and is likely to ask the states to share a proposal over it.

"The cost of maintaining even a decommissioned warship is huge. The states will be asked how to express their level of interest, how they intend to use it so that the carrier's rich history can be preserved and at the same time it does not burn the exchequer's pocket," said a source.

INS Viraat is one of the only two existing aircraft carrier of the Indian Navy besides INS Vikramaditya. It has been in service for over 50 years now, initially with the Royal British Navy and since 1987 in the Indian Navy. It participated in the Falklands Conflict between the Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982.

Even as the government has initiated attempts for a respectable post decommissioned life for Virat, INS Vikrant, had found no takers last year despite much protest and even a PIL in the Bombay High Court to stop the government from selling the ship to scrap dealers. It was eventually sold off as scrap for Rs Rs 63.02 crore. In 1971 war, it was Vikrant's launch platform from which the Indian Air Force planes carried out air raids at the harbours of Chittagong and Cox's Bazar in then East Pakistan.

"With Virat, we want to ensure that its historical achievements are preserved. Hence the idea of converting it into a museum," said an official adding that Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandra Babu Naidu has already showed interest in it througha letter he wrote to defence minsiter Manohar Parrikar recently.

Indian Navy submarine INS Kursura after its decommissioning in 2001 was converted to a museum and is a major tourist attraction in Vishakapatnam.