INS Vikrant - India's Indigenous Warship

INS Vikrant, the Warship / Aircraft carrier is the largest ship ever built in India and also the largest warship in Indian Navy as of September 2022. Built at a cost of 20,000 crore rupees,  it is 262.5 meters long, 61.6 meters wide, 59 meters high and weighs 45,000 tonnes. This ship is powered by 4 gas turbines which can produce totally 88 MW power, which is enough to light up about 5,000 households or the whole city of Cochin. The ship is designed for a maximum speed of 28 Knots and normal cruising speed of 18 Knots with endurance of 7,500 Nautical Miles, and built with state of the art high degree of automation for machinery operations, ship's navigation and survivability.

INS Vikrant has 14 decks and 2,300 compartments. It is equipped with latest state of the art equipment and systems. There are separate cabins for women officers. It can accommodate about 1,700 crew members. The ship has a well equipped kitchen to prepare and serve food for all inmates, capable of producing more than 10,000 chapatis a day. There is a full-fledged medical complex equipped with latest medical facilities like CT scanner, X-Ray machines, Laboratories, Operation theatres, ICU, Physiotherapy clinic, Telemedicine facilities, Isolation ward, etc, and advanced sewage treatment plant.

The ship can carry 30 aircrafts and helicopters like MiG 29k fighter jets for anti-air, anti-surface and land attack roles, Light Combat Aircraft [LCA], the Kamov 31 early air warning helicopter, MH-60R multi role helicopters and Advanced Light Helicopters [ALH]. Equipped with a ski-jump for launching aircrafts and a set of 'arrester wires' for recovery, known as Short Take Off But Arrested Recovery [STOBAR]. The size of the flight deck is equal to about 2 football grounds, and has 270 lights for night landing.

This ship is designed by Indian Navy's Warship Design Bureau [WDB] and built by Cochin Shipyard Limited. It is built with 76% indigenous equipment and machinery. The special warship-grade steel required for this is developed jointly by Defence Research and Development Organisation [DRDO], Steel Authority of India [SAIL] and Indian Navy. SAIL has supplied about 30,000 tonnes of DMR plates [low carbon low alloyed steel plates] for this. Several other industries like Bharat Electronics [BEL], Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd [BHEL], Garden Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd [GRSE], Kerala State Electronic Development Corporation [KELTRON], Kirloskar, Larsen & Toubro [L&T], Wartsila India, over 550 Original Equipment Manufacturers [OEMs], ancillary industries, sub-contractors, and over 100 Micro Small and Medium Enterprises [MSMEs] are involved in this project. Close to 15,000 people are involved in this project, or in other words this project has generated employment for more than 2,000 people at Cochin Shipyard Ltd., and another about 12,500 people at various ancillaries, sub-contractors' places, at OEMs and MSMEs.

This aircraft carrier was commissioned by the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi on 2^nd September 2022, at Cochin Shipyard in Kerala state of India.

A new flag for Indian Navy also was unveiled on this occasion. In the new flag the Saint George's cross which was present in the earlier flag is omitted, and a new emblem is introduced. A sanskrit motto 'शं नो वरुणः' [sham no varunah] is inscribed in the emblem. This means 'may the god of waters, Varuna, be auspicious to us and bless us'.

The flag before 2nd September 2022

New Flag unveiled on 2nd September 2022

Indian Navy's first aircraft carrier was acquired from UK which was in use from 1961 to 1997.