NEW DELHI (NNN-Bernama) -- India has sold its first aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant to a ship breaker for US$10 million following an auction, China's Xinhua news agency reported.

INS Vikrant, purchased as HMS Hercules from Britain in 1957, had played a key role in enforcing the naval blockade on East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971.

The Indian Navy vessel was sold to a company named I.B. Commercial Pvt Ltd. and has 30 days to settle the payment and tow the ship away.

The ship was commissioned as the first aircraft carrier of the Indian Navy in 1961.

After a distinguished service, it was decommissioned in January 1997 and preserved as a museum ship in Cuffe Parade in Mumbai until it was closed in 2012 due to safety concerns. --NNN-BERNAMA

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