Navy

HMS Hermes To Sail Into The Sunset

The aircraft carrier HMS Hermes is to be retired from duty after almost 60 years in service.

She was the flagship of the British taskforce to the Falklands, the last of the Centaur-class carriers and is possibly the longest serving warship in the world.

Named after the winged messenger of the Greek gods, HMS Hermes was in service with the Royal Navy from 1959 to 1984.

The ship eventually reinvented herself as the Indian Navy's INS Viraat, serving for a further 29 years (becoming the world's longest serving aircraft carrier).

The British aircraft carrier had a displacement of 23,000 tons, measuring up at a length of 774 ft 9 inches.

10th March 1960: A particularly poignant date in Hermes’ history came when the ship passed over the same spot where Hermes 9 was sunk by Japanese bombers in 1942.

The claim to be the longest-serving aircraft carrier is not in doubt, but the longest serving warship?

Whatever the counter-claims of the USS Constitution or HMS Victory, surviving the rapid technological advances throughout the 20th and 21st century, when Hermes completed most of her service, makes her endurance all the more impressive.

Hermes still showed value despite all the modern upgrades to today's ‘digital’ ships, with the onset of 3D printed technology and autonomous robots.

Sometimes referred to as a “one-Harrier carrier,” INS Viraat‘s decommissioning will mark a mostly symbolic moment for the Indian Navy.

Her contribution to the country's naval aviation was a modest one, with a limited group of Sea Harrier jets and Indian-designed utility helicopters using her on a regular basis.

Indian Air Force Jaguars, Indian Navy Sea Harriers, and U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornets, flying in formation over INS Viraat during Exercise Malabar

It’s quite remarkable that the ship has had such a long career – because so many times over the decades, she was almost decommissioned.

1982 should have seen the ship decommissioned after a defence review which would have made the RN considerable smaller.

But fate intervened – in the shape of the Falklands War. Famously, the crew of Hermes assisted in the rescue of personnel from HMS Sheffield, which was struck by an Argentine exocet missile.