Aircraft-carrier INS Viraat has won the coveted Cock Trophy during the Western Fleet Whaler Pulling Regatta, making it the last time the warship participated in the event before she is decommissioned. INS Viraat was declared overall winner team and awarded the trophy. In the keenly contested event, aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya emerged runner-up. The winning ship will be called the Cock Ship till the next regatta.

Vice-Admiral S.P.S. Cheema, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Mumbai-based Western Naval Command, presided over the finals as the chief guest and also gave away the prizes to the winners. The whaler is a 27-foot-long boat that is rowed by five men called ‘pullers’ using 15 to 17-foot-long oars who cover a distance of 1.3 km. The teams practice hard for several months prior to the regatta.

INS Viraat

• INS Viraat is expected to be decommissioned sometime next year.
• INS Viraat had first served the British Navy for over 30 years before being bought by India.
• She was inducted into the Indian Navy in 1987 after undergoing extensive refits.
• She is a Centaur-class aircraft carrier.
• The last British-built ship serving with the Indian Navy, she is the oldest aircraft carrier in service in the world and is one of three carriers based in the Indian Ocean region.
• INS Viraat was originally commissioned in the British Royal Navy as HMS Hermes on 18 November 1959, fifteen years after she was laid down in June 1944.