NAVYPEDIA

Photo

Viraat 2007

Ships

Name	No	Yard No	Builder	Laid down	Launched	Comp	Fate
विराट [Viraat] (ex-Hermes)	R22		Vickers-Armstrong, Barrow, UK	21.6.1944	16.2.1953	18.11.1959 // 14.11.1986	stricken 6.2016

Technical data

Displacement standard, t	23900
Displacement full, t	28700
Length, m	198.1 pp 226.9 oa
Breadth, m	27.4 wl 48.8 oa
Draught, m	8.80 mean
No of shafts	2
Machinery	2 sets Parsons geared steam turbines, 4 Admiralty 3-drum boilers
Power, h. p.	76000
Max speed, kts	28
Fuel, t	oil 4200
Endurance, nm(kts)	6500(14)
Armour, mm	inner belt: 25, flight deck: 19, box-shaped protection of magazines: 51, machinery glacis: 25
Armament	2x type 1006, type 965, type 994, 2x type 904 radars, type 184M sonar, RAWS/PFN-513 Ajanta ECM suite, 2x Corvus decoy RL, CAAIS CCS
Military load	4 LCVP, 750 troops
Electronic equipment	1350

Air group

Year	Attackers	Helicopters
1990	9 Sea Harrier Mk 51	6 Sea King Mk 42B, 3 Sea King Mk 42C
2000	12 Sea Harrier Mk 51	6 Sea King Mk 42B, 3 Sea King Mk 42C
2005	10 - 12 Sea Harrier Mk 51	3 Sea King Mk 42B, 3 Sea King Mk 42C, 4 Ka-28, 2 Chetak, 3 Ka-31
2010	9 Sea Harrier Mk 51	3 Sea King Mk 42B, 3 Sea King Mk 42C, 4 Ka-28, 2 Chetak, 3 Ka-31

Standard scale images

Graphics

Aircraft facilities

Hangar was 5.3m in height. Two lifts: fore deck edge lift (16.5x10.7m, 15.9t) and aft centerline lift (16.5x13.4m, 15.9t). 2 catapults B5-4. There was 6.5°-angled flight deck and 12°-ski-jump ramp.

Project history

Purchased 24.4.1986, having been paid off 12.4.1984 from the Royal Navy and stricken 1.7.1985. Turned over to Indian control 14.11.1986 during reactivation and minor modernization overhaul, and recommissioned on 12.5.1987 at Devonport. Formally commissioned in India 15.2.1989. Had been converted from a standard carrier to a helicopter commando carrier in 1973 and converted again in 1977 as an ASW helicopter carrier. Modified during British service in 1981 to operate Sea Harrier V/STOL attack fighters, receiving a 230t, 45.7m-long x 13.7m-wide x 4.9m-high 12° ski-jump takeoff ramp. Can carry up to 30 Sea Harrier fighters, but less than ten remain in Indian service. Retained commando transport capability for 750 troops and continued to carry four LCVP landing craft aft. Has two aircraft elevators. The Sea King Mk 42B ASW helicopters were equipped to launch Sea Eagle antiship missiles.

Protection

There were mantlets around aircraft torpedoes warheads rooms only. Their thickness was 10mm. Longitudinal watertight bulkheads covered the machinery.

Modernizations

1995: - 2 x 4 Sea Cat SAM, 2x type 904 radars; + 2 x 2 - 30/71 AK-230

2001: - type 994, type 965 radars; + RAWL, RAWS-J radars

2004: - 2 x 1 - 40/60; + 2 x 8 Barak-1 SAM (VLS, 16 Barak-1), EL/M-2221 radar

2009: - 2x type 1006 radars; + 2x Rashmi radars

Naval service

Suffered severe engine-room flooding 10.9.1993 when a main seawater induction valve failed in port during repairs.