Article Posted on : - Nov 17, 2009

INS Viraat is the flagship of the Indian Navy, the oldest carrier afloat.

NEW DELHI (PTI): Indian Navy Chief Admiral Nirmal Verma will go on board India's sole aircraft carrier, INS Viraat, on Wednesday when it marks the golden jubilee as an operational warship, as part of his visit to Mumbai to review the coastal security preparedness of the force.

As part of his three-day visit to the Western Naval Command beginning Tuesday, Verma would sail on the flagship Viraat during a coastal security exercise that the Western Fleet of the Navy would carry out in the Arabian Sea to review the apparatus put in after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.

"The Navy chief will witness fleet exercises, gun and missile firings by ships and aircraft operations on board INS Viraat, which has rejoined the fleet after an extensive maintenance period, during the ship sortie off Mumbai," Navy officials said here on Monday.

The 28,000-tonne Centaur class aircraft carrier, which was originally commissioned in the British Royal Navy as HMS Hermes on November 18, 1959, was later bought by India in 1987 and rechristened INS Viraat.

The warship, which has already served the Indian Navy for 23 years now, recently rejoined the fleet after a yearlong upgrade to give it a life extension for another five years.

It had only recently moved from Cochin Shipyard, where it was being refitted, to Mumbai as the flagship of the Indian Navy. INS Viraat will now serve the Navy till 2015, much beyond its service life of 40 years.