Indian Naval Ship Vikramaditya Commissioned

The Indian Naval Ship Vikramaditya was commissioned on 16 Nov 2013.

The commissioning ceremony took place at Severodvinsk, Russia.

INS Vikramaditya was formerly known as Russian aircraft carrier named Admiral Gorshkov.

The contract for the ship was signed between the Federation of Russia and the Union Government of India on 04 Oct 2000. The Indian Government approved the acquisition in 2004, which was followed by the ship’s extensive revamp.

Russian shipyard Sevmash carried out the repair and refit of the ship,

The repair & refit was scheduled to complete within 52 months, nevertheless due to various setbacks combined with extremely cold weather conditions the refit lasted for almost a decade.

Sevmash shipyard made big modifications to the ship.
The following works have been completed:

– Modification of superstructure
– Machinery modification
– Electrical re-cabling
– Outfitting
– Arrestor and Restraining Gears.

A total of 234 new hull sections were fabricated using 2500 tonnes of steel, which is almost equivalent to the standard displacement of a mid-size frigate.

INS Vikramaditya, the floating airfield, has an overall length of about 284 meters and a maximum beam of about 60 meters, stretching as much as three football fields put together. Standing about 20 storeys tall from keel to the highest point, the sheer sight of this 44,500 tonne mega structure of steel is awe inspiring.
The ship has a total of 22 decks.

Once integrated, INS Vikramaditya will bring transformational capabilities to the Indian Navy and will be a ‘game changer’.

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Naval Today Staff, November 18, 2013; Image: Indian Navy