INS Viraat’s 56-year-long sea odyssey ends

The world’s oldest serving aircraft carrier, INS Viraat was decommissioned on Monday, ending a 56-year-long sea odyssey that saw the British-build ship serve two countries and sail a distance that would have taken it around the globe 27 times. The decommissioning ceremony at the Mumbai dockyard will be attended by India’s chief of naval staff S Lamba and the British Royal Navy’s 1st Sea Lord, admiral Sir Phillip Jones. Referred to as the ‘Grand Old Lady’ in the naval community, Viraat was completed and comm