As we were driven into the Sevmash shipyard today, it was snowing lightly. Nothing to worry about. At 9AM it was still dark out, with flecks of snow like bugs in the headlights. As our mini-bus wound its way over a thin layer of snow to the jetty, it had begun to really come down. Fat snowflakes wafted down in a sharp, painful angle. The Indian Navy lent me that parka I’ve got in that picture, taken a few moments after I boarded INS Vikramaditya, right before she was commissioned formally into the Indian Navy this morning.
Cdr R. Gowtham, the officer who led me onto the ship, said I was the first Indian journalist to board. Nice. It has been an incredible day, dampened only by the brutal weather. -5ºC, with snow and rain, and all of it in the outdoors — the Vikramaditya’s fabulous flight deck. Will be posting in great detail tonight and tomorrow about the ship, what I saw and what the people on board told me. Also had a chance to chat with Vikramaditya’s CO, Commodore Suraj Berry. My TV reports will be on Headlines Today & Aaj Tak this evening.
Will also be producing half-hour documentaries on the Vikramaditya in English and Hindi during the coming week on my network channels. Will post times here on the blog.
Wanted to take this opportunity to personally thank all those from the crew of Vikramaditya who helped a cold, frostbitten journalist get some work done today, and take in the beautiful new ship that’s now their home (and to those officers who came over and said hi, my personal best wishes and hoping they’ll send me the photos they took of us!).
The Navy says it best: Shano Varuna, R33!
Great Pictures Shiv and Thank you for covering this hand over ceremony, I hope you will save these pictures as this ship is going to be in service for 40+ years.
to shiv
where are new helicopters,how many ka 31,28,i mean by proportion
if u read this shiv then plzz, get some picture of interiors. coz many of them are really curious about how vikadi look from inside.
Heartiest Congratulations to the crew! A lot of personal sacrifice.
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Finally, from pictures to real hardware (ownership) …
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Heartiest congratulation to all on board. May God bless you all.
Sir, I am quite interested on the life of the crew on board. Like how they live, what they eat ? etc. etc. Grateful if you can write few lines with few photographs.
Lastly one question, why there is no anti-missile or anti aircraft protection for INS. Vikryamaditya !! Russian anti-aircraft missiles are world based and it is not that our planners do not know the name of S 300 (F series) !! Why do depend only on BARAK. missiles. We have spend almost $ 2.5 billion but there is no anti-missile or anti-aircraft system. Bah !!
After spending billions … the bridge appears outdated with bulky soviet style electrical equipments, cabling and navigational equipments.
It does not cost a bomb to buy and install modern integrated bridge with Multifunction workstations but then ofcourse that would mean replacing the hybrid current and entire soviet era control systems on board !