Mumbai: Indian Naval Ship (INS) Viraat, the world’s oldest serving aircraft carrier, will be decommissioned on March 6. Sailors, officers and veterans of both the Indian Navy and UK’s Royal Navy will attend a grand ceremony at Naval Dockyard, Mumbai, to bid farewell to the ‘grand old lady.’

Speaking to reporters aboard the Centaur-class aircraft carrier, which is docked at Mumbai harbour, Vice-Admiral Girish Luthra, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Naval Command, remarked how the decommissioning was an emotional and proud time for all those, including him, who served on the ship.

“Even after 50 years of service, a record in naval history, the ship is in good shape and can still go and perform at sea.”

However, once INS Viraat is retired, India’s only aircraft carrier will be INS Vikramaditya, which was commissioned in 2013. “Our long term requirement is for three aircraft carriers. The next aircraft carrier, Vikrant class, is being constructed at Kochi Shipyard and would be ready by end of 2018-19,” Luthra said.

The country is also planning to acquire the much-needed multi-role helicopters for the Navy, he added.

No plan is finalised regarding what to do with INS Viraat after she is decommissioned. The Andhra Pradesh government had expressed an interest in converting it into a museum but deliberations are still under way in New Delhi with the Anddra government, Luthra said.

On several occasions in the past, smaller ships that were decommissioned have been used for museums or sent for display at naval training establishments. But Viraat is a huge ship requiring a high cost of maintenance as well as taking up precious space in any busy harbour. Other option could be Viraat will be just sold off as scrap, like the earlier aircraft carrier INS Vikrant.

Viraat’s performance in Indian Navy has come under praise for having clocked 22,622 flying hours by various aircraft, spent seven years at sea covering the globe 27 times and having a total of 80,715 hours of boiler running. She played a major role in Operation Jupiter in 1989 in Sri Lanka Peace Keeping Operation, after which she was affiliated to the Garhwal Rifles and Scouts of Indian Army in 1990. Her major participation was seen during Operation Parakram in 2001-2002 when India and Pakistan were engaged in a stand-off post terrorist attack on Parliament.

After serving in the Royal Navy for 27 years when it played a major role in the Falklands War, INS Viraat was commissioned into the Indian Navy on May 12, 1987 and “the initial assessment was that it would run for five years, at the most 10 years. But to run for 30 years, it is indeed a tribute to those who have maintained her in fine fettle,” Luthra said.

The construction of Viraat, then HMS Hermes, started at the time of Second World War and a lot goes to say for the people involved in its construction in the UK since the state of the hull and several facets of ship building are not to be seen these days, despite technological advancement, Luthra said.

In India, the ship has seen several refits through the years.

The ceremonies on her farewell day will also be marked by the release pf Special Cover by Army Postal Service and a book on the history of INS Viraat.