HMS Bulwark, one of the Royal Navy’s two amphibious ships decommissioned a year ago, has been sold to Brazil.
The Brazilian Ministry of Defence, Ministerio da Defesa, says the ship will be renamed Oiapoque and be used to expand the capacity of the Brazilian Navy to provide defence and humanitarian action.
Launched in November 2001 at Barrow, Bulwark is one of the Royal Navy’s newer surface vessels described as a Swiss Army Knife because of its ability to carry 400 sailors and Royal Marines.
A loading dock is capable of carrying trucks, machinery and watercraft with the ship also equipped to carry emergency supplies for use in disaster relief operations.
Bulwark and sister ship Albion were among the last surface ships to be built in Barrow and were decommissioned as part of cost-saving measures worth £500m over the next five years announced by the Defence secretary John Healy.
In a written answer to MPs, former defence minister Maria Eagle told the Commons earlier this year that the decision to decommission both HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark was announced in November 2024 adding: “As of that date, a considerable amount of refit work was still outstanding to materially prepare HMS Bulwark for her return to sea. In the period from 2022 to 2024, a total of £72.1 million had been spent on refitting HMS Bulwark.”
It is unknown how much Brazil has paid for Bulwark, which was the adopted warship of County Durham.
