A permanent memorial of India’s first aircraft carrier INS Vikrant has been unveiled in Mumbai by Vice Admiral S.P.S. Cheema, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Western Naval Command, and Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta. The memorial stands at a traffic island opposite the Lion Gate near the Naval Dockyard in south Mumbai. The sculpture of INS Vikrant was designed by great metal sculptor Arzan Khambatta. The sculpture was made by using the pieces of metal recovered from the breaking up of INS Vikrant.

 Journey of INS Vikrant 

• INS Vikrant was originally built under the name of HMS Hercules for the British Royal Navy in 1943. She was laid down on November 12, 1943 by Vickers-Armstrong.
• HMS Hercules was launched on September 22, 1945. However, with the end of World War II, the construction of HMS Hercules was suspended by British Royal Navy in May 1946. It was bought by India in 1957.
• The Government of India paid about £67 million for the ship.
• INS Vikrant was commissioned on March 4, 1961 in Belfast by Mrs Vijayalakshmi Pandit.
• Captain Pritam Singh was the first commanding officer of the carrier.
• The first jet landed on the deck of INS Vikrant by Lieutenant Radhakrishna Hariram Tahiliani on May 18, 1961.
• INS Vikrant was also used during 1971 India-Pakistan war. During the war, the crew of INS Vikrant earned two Mahavir Chakras and 12 Vir Chakras.
• INS Vikrant was decommissioned on January 31, 1997. It served as a maritime museum till 2004 after it decommissioning.
• INS Vikrant finally broke up in November 2014.

 Vocabulary 

• Unveiled means show or announce publicly for the first time.
• Dockyard means an area with docks and equipment for repairing and maintaining ships.
• Memorial means a statue or structure established to remind people of a person or event.