Aircraft Carriers III

A

aksha

Captain
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After nearly 60 years of sailing across the oceans, the Indian Navy's warhorse aircraft carrier, the INS Viraat, is now making her last operational deployment before she is decommissioned or retired later this year.

With more than 1, 200 officers and sailors onboard, the Viraat, which entered service on May 12, 1987, set sail on Monday from Mumbai to Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, where she will participate early next month in the Navy's massive International Fleet Review (IFR). More than 100 ships from 50 navies from around the world will be at anchorage at Vizag where they will be reviewed at sea by President Pranab Mukherjee and the Prime Minister. IFR 2016 is a key outreach programme of the Indian Navy meant to showcase India's growing importance as a key maritime player in the Indian Ocean region.

Prior to being commissioned into the Indian Navy, the aircraft carrier had served as the HMS Hermes with the Royal Navy and went on to serve with distinction in the 1982 Falklands Islands War against Argentina.

The INS Viraat is headed to Vishakapatnam with her full complement of six Sea Harrier fighter jets, Chetak and Sea King anti-submarine warfare helicopters.

Over the last few years, the Sea Harriers have been incredibly difficult to operate because of the lack of availability of spare parts from the UK. Along with the Sea Harrier, the Navy is operating 6 Sea King anti-submarine warfare choppers onboard the Viraat. Less than 10 Sea King choppers, which were first acquired by India in 1969, are thought to remain operational with the Indian Navy. The Navy has selected the US built Sikorsky S-70B as its Sea King replacement, but the initial contract for 16 of the choppers is yet to be finalised. For now, the Sea Kings are expected to soldier on.

Prior to being commissioned into the Indian Navy, the aircraft carrier had served as the HMS Hermes with the Royal Navy and went on to serve with distinction in the 1982 Falklands Islands War against Argentina.

The INS Viraat is headed to Vishakapatnam with her full complement of six Sea Harrier fighter jets, Chetak and Sea King anti-submarine warfare helicopters.

In total, there are 6 Sea Harriers, 4 Chetak and 6 Sea King helicopters onboard - the largest complement of aircraft the Viraat has embarked in years.

INS Viraat is scheduled to arrive in Visakhapatnam by February 4 before she returns to Mumbai for the final time. Last year, the Defence Ministry had written to various coastal states asking them to pay just Rs. 1 if they were keen on acquiring the carrier to convert it into a floating museum. The cost would be at least Rs. 300 crores in addition to which there would be sizeable annual maintenance expenditure.

India's first aircraft carrier, the iconic INS Vikrant, was taken to the ship breakers in November 2014 after being preserved as a museum in Cuffe Parade, Mumbai between 1997 and 2012. Ultimately, no private buyer was willing to acquire the Vikrant which was sold through an online auction for 60 crores to a Darukhana ship-breaker.

It's unclear if INS Viraat will face the same inglorious fate as India's first aircraft carrier.
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Air Force Brat

Air Force Brat

Brigadier
Super Moderator
test bd said:
AFB I just browsed many USN photos of anchors in maintenance and the Russians do do their anchor maintenance differently than the USN. That is just how they roll.

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That's my cuz's ship, Chief, that is a honking anchor, he made Capt within the past year or so, he's ashore on an assignment in the Far East.

So guestimating Chief, how long is an anchor chain?? That gal would take some manpower to remove that link??
 
Jura The idiot

Jura The idiot

General
Saturday at 10:37 AM
Jura said:
what? oh, biofuels stuff
...
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... updated:
Navy deploys first biofuel-powered Great Green Fleet to Asia-Pacific
The dream of the Great Green Fleet came to life Wednesday as the aircraft carrier John C. Stennis left on its latest deployment, with five biofuel-powered ships alongside for the first time.

The destroyers Stockdale, Chung Hoon and William P. Lawrence, along with the cruiser Mobile Bay and the fast combat support ship Rainier, are all running off a biofuel blend made from tallow, or rendered beef fat, Navy spokesman Lt. Chika Onyekanne told Navy Times.

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack saw the strike group off from a pier in San Diego, the culmination of a seven-year effort by the Navy to deploy a carrier strike group with renewable energy.

The 10 percent biofuel, 90 percent petroleum blend can be used by ships without any change to equipment or procedure. However, it's a step down from the 50-50 goal that Mabus set for the Navy's ashore and afloat operations in 2009.

That plan is still on track, he told Navy Times in September, and the service has met that goal ashore as of 2016.

The Navy has tested a 50-50 blend, which fueled the Nimitz strike group and its aircraft during the first Great Green Fleet demonstration at the 2012 Rim of the Pacific Exercise, a mix of fossil fuel, algae oil and waste cooking oil.

The tallow biofuel, however, is a cost-competitive option that fulfills the Navy's mandate from Congress to purchase the fuels at prices comparable to traditional petroleum.

The tallow itself comes from Midwest cattle ranchers, Onyekanne said, and is then mixed with fossil fuels. The Navy's contract includes 77.6 million gallons of the blend at $2.05 a gallon.

That figure is slightly adjusted, as the real cost of the fuel is $2.19. With funds from the USDA's Commodity Credit Corporation, the Navy was able to cut $0.14 off the price per gallon, he said.

The program is available to help agencies defray costs of domestically-made blends containing 10 to 15 percent biofuel.

Though SECNAV's original vision had both ships and aircraft deploying on renewables, the Navy has not secured a contract for a drop-in jet biofuel blend and so Carrier Air Wing 9 will be operating on traditional fuel, Onyekanne said.

"With every solicitation of fuel that we have — and we have a four or five in the works — with every one, we’re going to solicit more blends of JP-5," he said.

Stennis and its strike group are scheduled for a standard seven-month cruise through 7th Fleet. The carrier Truman will be in 5th Fleet through May, and the Dwight D. Eisenhower deploys in late summer.

At one point, it is possible that Stennis will be the only carrier in either U.S. Central or Pacific Command, officials told Navy Times.
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A

aksha

Captain
the upgrades post Vikramaditya's refit

i quote tsarkar, a member from BRF
he spotted it,



Rukmini Comm antenna has been moved from its mast to superstructure. The mast now carries Elta 2221 ex Godavari. The positioning on the mast gives it a good radar horizon & look down ability

In the rear superstructure, just under the radomes, you can find the VLS. I had taken a photo some weeks back but the winter early morning smog & haze in Bombay ruined all photos. There are two AK-630 at the stern.

This photo shows the Barak-1 VLS clearly atop rear superstructure
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This photo shows the Elta 2221 and Barak 1 VLS atop rear superstructure
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This one shows all of them
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Jeff Head

Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
I know Aksha already posted some of these here...but I found some higher res pics and wanted them here too.

So, INS Vikramaditya, R33, Indian aircraft carrier made its first foreign port call to Colombo, Sri Lanka this week.

This post and the next show some photos from that visit:

Vikram-Colombo-01.jpg Vikram-Colombo-02.jpg Vikram-Colombo-03.jpg Vikram-Colombo-04.jpg Vikram-Colombo-05.jpg
 
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bd popeye

bd popeye

The Last Jedi
VIP Professional
Air Force Brat said:
That's my cuz's ship, Chief, that is a honking anchor, he made Capt within the past year or so, he's ashore on an assignment in the Far East.

So guestimating Chief, how long is an anchor chain?? That gal would take some manpower to remove that link??
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The anchor chain is 1082 feet(604M) long. Each link weighs 365(165.5KG) pounds. Now that is big!

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