INS Vikrant: An emotional homecoming for veterans

KOCHI: On Friday, INS Vikrant welcomed a lot of people on her flight deck and most of them were busy snapping photos of the ship. For veteran naval pilots who served on the old INS Vikrant, the Navy’s first aircraft carrier, it was a nostalgic moment with mixed emotions as the new carrier is a reincarnation of the Vikrant that nurtured and trained them to be the best.
For (retd) Commander Ulhas P Bapat (75), a Seahawk pilot on Vikrant during 1972-80, it felt like a homecoming. He flew down to Kochi with his wife Vijaya, ignoring his health issues. Bapat was part of INAS 300 (the Navy’s premier ‘White Tiger’ fighter squadron) and was one of the few pilots qualified for night-flying back then.
“Vikrant was our mother and we were extremely attached to her. We grew in her lap. We learned everything and trained on her flight deck building the aviation arm of the Navy. Seeing her reincarnation with added power is a special moment. I also met many of my old friendswho served on Vikrant,” Bapat said.
The veteran said he was happy to see a “bigger and modern” ship. “The WW-IIvintage Vikrant was old but she did her job. The new ship is better in all aspects. It can generate tonnes of freshwater which was scarce on old Vikrant,” said Bapat, who retired in 1989 as the officer-in-charge of Visakhapatnam naval air station.
(Retd) Cmde Gyanu Sharma, an INAS 300 SeaKing chopper pilot who served on Vikrant for 12 years from 1974, said the IAC was a pilot’s delight. “Being an indigenous ship adds to her beauty. We hope to see IAC2. ” Several Vikrant veterans were especially welcomed by the Navy. A documentary named ‘Sons of Vikrant’ was played at the event which showed the operations of the old ship and her ‘sons’ speaking eloquently about their ‘mother’.
None of them was happy about scrapping the ship. “Our grief is we couldn’t preserve the old Vikrant as a permanent naval museum despite a request to the government. Many officers felt scrapping her was something terrible,” Bapat said. Vikrant was retained as a museum ship for 17 years, but was scrapped in 2014 due to lack of financial support for maintenance.