Key facts
- Name
- Admiral Gorshkov
- Namesake
- Sergey Gorshkov
- Builder
- Chernomorskiy Yard , Nikolayev
- Laid down
- 17 February 1978
- Launched
- 1 April 1982
- Commissioned
- 11 December 1987
- Fate
- Sold to the Indian Navy on 20 January 2004
- Operator
- Indian Navy
- Ordered
- 20 January 2004
- Cost
- $2.35 billion (refurbishment) $10-11 billion (including all aircraft and systems)
- Completed
- 19 April 2012
- In service
- 14 June 2014
- Identification
- Pennant number : R33 MMSI number : 419000033
- Motto
- Strike Far, Strike Sure
- Status
- Active
- Class type
- Modified Kiev -class aircraft carrier
- Type
- Aircraft carrier
- Displacement
- 45,000 tons of loaded displacement
via Wikipedia infobox
~29 min read
Encyclopedic overview
INS Vikramaditya (lit. 'Valour Comparable to the Sun') is a conventionally powered STOBAR aircraft carrier currently serving as the flagship of the Indian Navy. It is a modified Kiev class aircraft cruiser purchased from Russia and entered into service in 2013.
Originally built as Baku and commissioned in 1987, the carrier served with the Soviet Navy and later with the Russian Navy (as Admiral Gorshkov) before being decommissioned in 1996. After years of negotiations, the carrier was purchased by India on 20 January 2004. The transformed ship completed her sea trials in July 2013 and first naval aviation trials in September 2013.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “INS Vikramaditya” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.