Fire on board the Indian Navy aircraft carrier, INS Vikramaditya

Vishal Thapar Jul 21, 2022

A fire broke out on board India’s sole operational aircraft carrier, INS Vikramaditya at sea on July 20.

No casualties were reported in the incident which occurred when the carrier was at sea off the Karwar base on India’s Western Seaboard. The fire was “brought under control” by the warship’s crew using onboard fire fighting systems.

A Navy statement on the incident was silent on any damage which may been caused by the fire nor did it mention the section of the carrier the fire broke out in. There was also no mention of aircraft on board at the time of the mishap.

INS Vikramaditya was on a trial sortie in the Arabian Sea after repair and refit at the Karwar naval base. The Indian Navy has ordered a Board of Inquiry into the incident.

INS Vikramaditya is the erstwhile Soviet helicopter carrier Admiral Gorshkov, which was inducted into the Indian Navy in November 2013 after extensive refurbishment, which included the installation of a ski-jump and an aviation complex, to convert the warship into a Short Take-Off but Arrested Recovery (STOBAR) carrier under a $2.33 Billion deal with Russia. Under a parallel deal, 45 MiG-29K deck-borne fighter jets were acquired for carrier operations.

There have been earlier instances of fire and leakage of gas reported on board the INS Vikramaditya.

This is the text of the Indian Navy statement on the July 20 fire:

“During a planned sortie for conduct of trials at sea, an incident of fire was reported onboard INS Vikramaditya today 20 Jul 22. The ship was operating off Karwar. The fire was brought under control by the ship's crew using onboard fire fighting systems. No casualties have been reported.

A board of inquiry has been ordered to investigate the incident.”