Vikrant fights last battle, against the elements

MUMBAI, June 1: It's a long way for a warship whose fighter bombers pulverised Pakistani military installations and hastened the surrender o...

MUMBAI, June 1: It8217;s a long way for a warship whose fighter bombers pulverised Pakistani military installations and hastened the surrender of East Pakistan. Today, exactly 16 months after she was decommissioned, aircraft carrier Vikrant is fighting a battle against the elements.

And from the look of things, the ageing ship isn8217;t exactly winning. Moored on a lonely pierside at the naval dockyard, the ship8217;s protective grey paint is fading and its sides are being licked by tongues of wicked reddish-yellow. These corroded patches have begun to appear throughout the ship especially near the waterline and on its flight deck.

On the night of April 21, seawater from a rusted pipe gushed into one of the ship8217;s holds, filling it with knee-deep water. It was detected in time by an alert crew member even as the rest of the crew rallied together to successfully pump the water out by morning.

An officer on board Vikrant recounts a worst case scenario or what would have happened had the leak not been detected. Waterwould enter in from one of the numerous rusted valves on sea pipes in the ship8217;s hull and flood a compartment. In a matter of minutes, there would be enough water in the hold to break through the corroded compartment and sink the ship. Surely a scenario straight out of Titanic. The problem is compounded by the fact that Vikrant is manned by a skeleton crew of only 80 against an operational strength of over a thousand. A larger crew could at least have ensured timely detection of leaks and fires since most compartments would be manned at all times.

quot;But let8217;s face it, the Vikrant is after all a decommissioned ship, the navy cannot afford to place so many personnel on board,quot; a senior naval officer adds.

Fires are yet another hazard. The Vikrant still has several kilometres of cabling, a single short circuit could trigger off an uncontrollable blaze which could reduce the ship to a charred hulk in a matter of hours. Which is why the crew look upon the coming monsoon with trepidation, for it meansmore fires and leaks.

Presently, they are engaged in patrols every hour, checking all the ship8217;s compartments against leaks and fires. A herculean task when you consider the ship is over 700 feet long and has hundreds of compartments. quot;The Vikrant cannot take another monsoon,quot; an officer nods. So what8217;s the remedy? quot;A final drydocking followed by a refit, lasting between three months to a year,quot; a naval officer explains.

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During its drydocking, the Vikrant8217;s corroded and barnacle-encrusted hull plates would be inspected and replaced and all the underwater orifices sealed permanently. The ship8217;s 650-foot long flight deck has several large corroded patches and seems incapable of handling aircraft operations at present.

Plans to convert it into a heliport can be realised only after the flight deck is repaired and reinforced. All this entails a refit costing several crores of rupees, which a resource-starved navy is unlikely to shell out unless there is some guarantee the ship will be converted into amuseum, naval officials say.

That doesn8217;t seem to be happening in a hurry at present. The Mumbai Port Trust MbPT is dithering over granting the Radio Club site for permanently docking the Vikrant, the monsoon is around the corner, and it appears to be only a matter of time before the Navy finally takes a decision to send the ship to the scrap yard rather than watch it sink ignominiously in its berth.