In the eastern part of the Arabian Sea, west of Kempard Bay, southwest of Wellavol, 69°2' east longitude, and 21°25' north latitude, the aircraft carrier "Vikramaditya" is turning to the windward direction...... About twenty-five kilometers northwest of it, the Vikrant is also turning.

Looking at the fourteen G-29K fighters neatly arranged on the flight deck, Rear Admiral Patel, commander of the Eastern Fleet of the Indian Navy, who stood in the corridor outside the aviation bridge, showed a smug smile. After three and a half years of service, the Vikramaditya, which was purchased from Russia at a cost of nearly two billion dollars, finally got the opportunity to show its talents.

As the largest displacement warship of the Indian Navy, the fate of the "Vikramaditya" is full of ups and downs and twists and turns.

In the fourth year of this century, Russia signed a package agreement with India under which Russia supplied the heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser "Gorshkov" to India free of charge, but it had to be modernized at the Russian Northern Heavy Machinery Plant and equipped with Russian-made carrier-based aircraft.

In early 2007, Russia demanded that India increase the cost of the conversion from $700 million to $1.9 billion and postpone the delivery date from the end of 2008 to 2012. For Russia's demands, India is completely unacceptable. Not only is the cost of refit equivalent to a new medium-sized aircraft carrier, but the modified "Gorshkov" can only serve for 20 years, which is half of the new aircraft carrier; Moreover, the "Virat" aircraft carrier will be decommissioned before 2012, and the self-built "Vikrant" can only be commissioned after 2012 at the earliest, and after the delivery date of the "Gorshkov" is postponed, the Indian Navy will have to spend a huge amount of money to extend the life of the "Virat" to ensure that it has at least one aircraft carrier.

After painstaking negotiations and tug-of-war bargaining, Russia guaranteed delivery in early 2012, reducing the cost of the modification from 1.9 billion to 1.6 billion.

At the beginning of 2012, the newly modified aircraft carrier "Vikramaditya" was successfully delivered.

It's just that the ship did not immediately form combat effectiveness.

Before the Vikramaditya, India had two aircraft carriers, but both could only carry Sea Harrier vertical/short take-off and landing fighters, not conventional take-off and landing fighters.

It took more than a year just to get the pilots to master the take-off and landing methods for glide jump/block landing.

In 2013, the Indian Navy officially announced the formation of the "Vikramaditya" into combat effectiveness.

After this. The Vikramaditya has been on a training mission in the waters off Visakhapatnam. It is not combat-capable.

The Indian Navy announced in advance the formation of combat effectiveness of the "Vikramaditya". There's no way around it.

The old and unbearable "Virat" is already difficult to go to sea. The delivery of the domestically produced Vikrant was postponed from the end of 2012 to the end of 2013. If "Vikramaditya" cannot be put into service "in time". The Indian Navy will face an embarrassing situation of having no aircraft carriers available.

It's better to have than nothing.

Until October 2013. That is, a month before the delivery of the "Vikrant". "Vikramaditya" is really becoming combat-capable.

A year and a half of intense training. At least eleven pilots were killed in accidents caused by mishandling.

For most of the ensuing months, the Vikramaditya made a symbolic 21-day patrol mission to the Arabian Sea in February 2014, and spent the rest of the time training pilots for the newly commissioned Vikrant in the Bay of Bengal.

With the formation of combat capability of the "Vikrant", the Indian Navy once again has two usable aircraft carriers.

Since then, the Vikramaditya has been based in Visakhapatnam and is the flagship of the Eastern Fleet, while the Vikrant is based in Kochi and is the flagship of the Western Fleet.

Although the Vikramaditya is much older than the Vikrant, Rear Admiral Patel, as the warship with the largest displacement in the Indian Navy, is very satisfied with his flagship.

Like the Vikramaditya, Rear Admiral Patel had a rough ride.

As a civilian naval officer, Patel faced many more challenges and difficulties than those of the Brahmin aristocracy from the day he joined the navy. To become the commander of the Eastern Fleet, Patel relied on his personal talent and tireless and fearless fighting spirit.

From the moment he boarded the Vikramaditya, Patel knew that his fate was tied to the fate of the battleship. For the next two years, Patel was strict with both himself and his subordinates. Under his leadership, the USS Vikramaditya aircraft carrier battle group became the elite unit of the Indian Navy.

In the words of Admiral Das, commander of the Indian Navy: Patel's personal charisma conquered the entire fleet.

Everything Patel did was for this war.

Like the vast majority of civilian-born officers, Patel is an out-and-out "hawk." Only war can show the value of soldiers, and only war can change the fate of civilian officers.

Patel didn't care about politics, but he knew that sooner or later, the Vikramaditya would go to war with Pakistan in the west or the Chinese navy in the east. The final result will prove that this aircraft carrier worth 1.6 billion yuan, as well as civilian-born generals, are the pillars of the Indian Navy.

After the outbreak of the India-Pakistan crisis, the opportunity Patel had been waiting for came.

If he didn't come forward, the commander of the Navy would have fought for the Eastern Fleet and the Navy to participate in the war.

On 27 June, the Eastern Fleet headed by the "Vikramaditya" left Visakhapatnam and headed for the Arabian Sea to assist the "Vikrant" aircraft carrier battle group in carrying out a naval blockade of Pakistan and bombing a Pakistani naval base.

After dark, the Vikramaditya and Vikrant, which had been operating in the waters south of Kempard Bay and outside the strike radius of Pakistan Air Force fighter jets, turned north in search of combat opportunities.

What Patel needed was not an opportunity, but an order.

Before the early morning of 3 July, the Navy Command finally issued an operational order for the "Vikramaditya" and "Vikrant" to send carrier-based aircraft to bomb the Pakistani military port.

The two carriers will send carrier-based fighter jets to bomb the Gwadar military port before dawn, the Air Force will send long-range fighter jets to escort the Navy's attack aircraft group, and an A-50I will be dispatched to coordinate naval and air force fighter operations. On the way back, the carrier-based aircraft will meet with the refueling machine sent by the Air Force over the Arabian Sea to refuel.

This arrangement is not just for the purpose of using the Navy's carrier-based fighters.

The "Vikramaditya" carried 28 Mi G-29K, while the "Vikrant" had only 24 Mi G-29K fighters, which together were not comparable to a tactical fighter group of the Air Force. In addition, the predecessor of the Mi G-29K is the Mi G-29 front-line air superiority fighter, with excellent maneuverability and strong combat ability, but it is not equipped with advanced electronic equipment, and its ground/sea attack capability is very reluctant. "Vikramaditya" and "Vikrant" did not have catapults on board, and the fighters could only take off in a glide jump mode, unable to reach the maximum take-off weight, which greatly affected not only the combat radius, but also the bomb load.

After carrying ground/sea attack munitions, the Mi G-29K could not carry fuel to allow it to return to the aircraft carrier after attacking the port of Gwadar 600 kilometers away, so it had to arrange for air force tankers to provide support.

The main thing about sending two aircraft carriers to attack is to take care of the mood of the Navy.

Patel didn't think so, the Mi G-29K fighter that was able to sink the enemy's large warship in the ocean would definitely be able to easily sink the Pakistani warship docked in the Gwadar port.

Each Mi G-29K is capable of carrying four anti-ship missiles and two combat missiles, giving it a powerful strike capability.

Caressed by the sea breeze, Patel looked forward to the battle that was coming.

It was not just the battle of fourteen pilots, and not just the battle of the Eastern Fleet, but the battle of Patel, the first battle of his twenty-eight years of service in the Indian Navy.

The officers and men of the fleet and the aviation service personnel on the flight deck and in the hangar of the aircraft carrier were not in such a good mood.

They must complete the preparations before the take-off of the fighter within the specified time, including checking the status of the fighter, refueling the fighter, loading ammunition, and so on.

The Mi G-29K, like its brother in the Indian Air Force, is a bit "unsuitable".

For every hour of flight, this aircraft requires six crew members to be busy for eight hours, and the maintenance hours of the flight hour reach an astonishing forty-eight!

In any case, the battle was about to begin, and the orderly did not dare to be careless at all.

As the sky was about to dawn, the Navy Command sent the latest information: the main warship of the Pakistan Navy is still anchored in Gwadar Port and has no intention of leaving the port.

At five thirty o'clock, Patel gave the order to take off.

The USS Vikramaditya will release 14 fighter jets, and the INS Vikrant will fly 12 fighter jets, 26 of which will carry 28 anti-ship missiles and 38 air-to-surface missiles, divided into two groups to attack Pakistan Navy warships and infrastructure in Gwadar port.

Two rounds of bombardment were enough to destroy the Pakistani Navy and paralyze the Gwadar naval base.

As the first Mi G-29K staggered into the pre-dawn night sky at full throttle, the battle began.

On the flight deck, the aviation coordinators were busy.

Only two fighters can take off at a time, fighters carrying anti-ship missiles take off from the main runway on the left, and fighters carrying ground-to-surface missiles take off from the secondary runway on the right. Fourteen fighters, divided into seven batches, take at least two minutes each time, and at least twelve minutes before and after.

A mistake was made in the busyness, and the coordinator dragged the wrong plane, resulting in a delay in the take-off time of fifteen minutes.

It was just a small mistake that had no effect on the whole operation. Fifty-five minutes later, the port of Gwadar will be engulfed in flames.

Patel was able and excited. Unbeknownst to him, just above his head, a low-earth orbit reconnaissance satellite had been monitoring Vikramaditya and Vikrant for 35 minutes. When the two aircraft carriers were speeding up against the wind, the reconnaissance flight sounded the alarm.

Damn it*

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