India's first aircraft carrier INS Vikrant, which was built for the British Royal Navy as HMS Hercules in 1943 and which saw action during the India-Pakistan war in 1971, is being finally broken up after a glorious history of 71 years.
The HMS Hercules, a Majestic-class light fleet aircraft carrier, was built Oct 14, 1943, commissioned in the British Royal Navy in 1945 and bought by India in 1957.
At that time, it earned the distinction of being Asia's first aircraft carrier.
The gigantic vessel with a displacement of 20,000 tonnes, was commissioned in the Indian Navy Feb 16, 1959. It saw action during the 1971 India-Pakistan war and was finally decommissioned Jan 31, 1997.
It served as a maritime museum till 2004 and since then, bitter legal battles were fought for saving INS Vikrant in the past decade, right up to the Supreme Court.
Many proposals, including converting it into a permanent museum for future generations, failed to materialise due to varied reasons, chiefly due to financial constraints
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