ORIGINAL: Cap Mandrake
Hmmm. What purpose could the Indians have for a carrier other than national pride?
It would make a great place for dance numbers for a Bollywood film but what military purpose?
Seems like naval embargo of Pakistan to me. Maybe ASW duty depending on what kind of aircraft you put aboard.
Who else would they tangle with? China? Nepal? Do they even have a navy?
Also, when do they put the dot on the bow?
India has had a carrier since they purchased the former HMS Hercules from Great Britain in 1957. Renamed INS Vikrant, she was commissioned as the first aircraft carrier of the Indian Navy in 1961. After a distinguished service, she was decommissioned in January 1997. She has since been preserved as a maritime museum in Mumbai. She is the only World War II-era British-built aircraft carrier to be preserved as a museum. As catwhoorg and dessicat noted, she was pretty active in the Indo-Pakistani wars.
I guess that makes the new one Vikrant II. They should have come up with something more original like Sikh 'n destroy. [:D]
