The Indian Navy’s first aircraft carrier ‘INS Vikrant’ was commissioned.

INS Vikrant was launched by Vijayalakshmi Pandit in Belfast, United Kingdom. The ship was laid down as HMS Hercules for the British Royal Navy during World War II, but construction ceased with the end of the war. India purchased the incomplete carrier in 1957 and construction was completed in 1961. Vikrant was commissioned as the first aircraft carrier of the Indian Navy and played a key role in enforcing the naval blockade of East Pakistan during the 1971 Indo-Pakistani War. The ship operated from 1961 to 1997 and was placed in a museum from 2002 to 2012. Later it went into scrap.