What Is The Destiny Of Decommissioned Naval Ships?

Hello aspirants,

This question always bothers as to what happens to the ship after decommissioning and what fate it has to face afterwards, so in this post, I will cover all the possible points that will help you understand. This post majorly for all the aspirants but specifically for those who are yet to attend the NSB(Naval selection Board). This question might be put up by the IO. Without further delay, let's begin.

• What is the commissioning of ships?
  

1. Firstly we will see what is commissioning of ships, then we will discuss about the decommissioning process.
2. Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning.
3. The term is most commonly applied to the placing of a warship in active duty with its country's military forces. The ceremonies involved are often rooted in centuries-old naval tradition.
4. Before commissioning, the new ship undergoes sea trials to identify any deficiencies needing correction. The preparation and readiness time between christening-launching and commissioning may be as much as three years for a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.
5. The prospective commanding officer, ship's officers and seamen who will form the crew, report for training and intensive familiarisation with their new ship.
6. They together understand The engineering plant, weapon and electronic systems, galley, and multitudinous other equipment of the new ship to be commissioned.

• What is decommissioning of the ship?
  

1. Decommission a ship is to terminate its career in service in the armed forces of a nation.
2. It confers that the vessel has reached the end of its usable life and is being retired from a given country's navy.
3. Decommissioning of the vessel may also occur due to treaty agreements or for safety reasons depending on the type of ship being decommissioned.
4. Ship decommissioning usually occurs some years after the ship was commissioned and is intended to serve as a means by which a vessel that has become too old or too obsolete can be retired with honour from the operating country's armed force.
5. Before its formal decommissioning, the ship in question will begin the process of dismantling by going through a preliminary step called inactivation or deactivation.
6. During this phase, a ship will report to a naval facility owned by the country in question to permit the ship's crew to offload, remove, and dismantle the ship's weapons, ammunition, electronics, and other material that is judged to be of further use to the nation in question.
7. The removed material from a ship usually ends up either rotating to another vessel in the class with similar weapons and capabilities or in storage pending a decision on equipment's fate.

• What is fate the of the ship after decommissioning?
  

1. SOLD- Navy Ships are often sold to other friendly countries to continue in service under a new flag.
2. The process can be understood better with an example of our country India purchased decommissioned aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov from Russia and is using it by renaming it as INS Vikramaditya.
3. SOLD FOR AUCTION- when any public or private organisation shows interest in creating a museum of the ship, then the government hold that ship up for auction.
4. Conversion of Indian Navy’s longest-serving aircraft carrier INS Viraat, into India’s first-ever, moored maritime museum-cum-marine adventure centre is one such example.
5. PRESERVED- if the decommissioned ship hold any strong and nostalgic memory with it like if used in any wars etc. then it is safely protected in the war memorial.
6. MOTHBALLED – Navy Ships that have some strategic value left in them are often "mothballed." They are sealed up for preservation and parked with lots of other old ships in Reserve bases in case the Navy ever needs them again in future for the strategic requirement.
7. SCRAP – If there is a no value left in it, then it will hand over to Navy Shipyard to get scrap metal. Recently, Bajaj has launched its bike Vikrant made from the scrapped metal of INS Vikrant.
8. Some ships are sunk into the sea so that later it can be used as a target for military exercise or as an artificial reef.

So that was all about the decommissioning of the ship. I hope you all enjoyed reading the post.

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Jai Hind