PM to sail on board INS Vikramaditya

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will sail on INS Vikramaditya, the largest warship of the Indian Navy, off the coast of Goa on June 14.

He will dedicate the warship, India’s second aircraft carrier after INS Virat, to the nation on that day, Navy sources said. The warship is already in the Arabian Sea.

INS Vikramaditya is the newest and largest ship to join Indian Navy on November 16, 2013. The ship was commissioned by the then Defence Minister A K Antony in Russia.

Vikramaditya, the floating airfield, has an overall length of about 284 meters and a maximum beam of about 60 meters, stretching as much as three football fields put together.

Standing about 20 storeys tall from keel to the highest point, the ship has a total of 22 decks. With over 1,600 personnel on board, Vikramaditya is literally a “floating city”.

Associated with this large population is a mammoth logistics requirement. Nearly a lakh of eggs, 20,000 litres of milk and 16 tonnes of rice is needed on board per month. With her complete stock of provisions, she is capable of sustaining herself at sea for about 45 days.