Two former Royal Navy flagships which were among the last surface ships to be built in Barrow are to be decommissioned as part of cost saving measures worth half a billion pounds over the next five years announced by the Defence secretary John Healy.
Amphibious assault ships HMS Bulwark and sister-ship HMS Albion are already maintained at lower levels of readiness and were not due to go to sea before their planned retirement. Both will now be decommissioned leaving the UK without any specialist amphibious assault ships.
The Royal Navy describes HMS Albion as a ‘Swiss Army knife’ capable of carrying 400 sailors and Royal Marines with a huge range of skills and experience, from technicians and engineers to medics and chefs. The loading dock of HMS Albion is capable of carrying trucks, machinery and watercraft with the ship also equipped to carry emergency supplies for use in disaster relief operations.
Both Albion and Bulwark have acted at flagships for the Royal Navy during their time in service.
In July 2023 Albion completed six years as UK and then amphibious flagship, leading the Littoral Response Group (North) a force – centred on amphibious ships and commandos – which is able to deploy across Europe’s waterways and react to crises and world events. The ship visited Sweden, Estonia, Norway, Netherlands, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Finland, travelling 45,000 miles.
“For too long our soldiers, sailors, aviators have been stuck with old, outdated equipment because ministers wouldn’t make the difficult decommissioning decisions,” Mr Healey told the Commons. “As technology advances at pace, we must move faster towards the future. These decisions are set to save the MOD £150m over the next two years and up to £500m over five years, savings that will be retained in full in defence.”
He added HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark had both effectively been retired by previous ministers but had superficially been kept on the books at a cost of £9m a year.
“They have provided a valuable capability over the years, but their work is done. We must look now to the future,” Mr Healy said.
Wave Knight, a tanker also built in Barrow, will also be decommissioned along with sister ship Wave Ruler.
