Ilya Vedmedenko12:53, 03.02.25

The British could give Brazil the all-purpose ships HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark for next to nothing.

Labour has been accused of selling two Royal Navy ships to Brazil for just £20m, despite the British having spent almost 10 times that amount refurbishing them over the past 14 years, Army Recognition reports .

We are talking about the landing-helicopter dock ship HMS Albion (L14) and its “brother” – the ship HMS Bulwark (L15). Both belong to the Albion class.

These are very large ships. Each of them is 176 meters long and has a displacement of 20 thousand tons. One ship can carry more than 250 marines, as well as various armored vehicles, in particular Challenger 2 tanks.

Interestingly, these are fairly modern ships. HMS Albion was commissioned by the Royal Navy in June 1996. The ship was laid down in 1998 and launched in March 2001.

HMS Albion entered service in 2003, and in November 2024 the newly elected Labour government announced that the ships would be decommissioned by March 2025.

It should be noted that HMS Albion, together with HMS Bulwark and HMS Ocean (L12), formed the backbone of the British landing ship fleet.

Thus, after the sale of the ships, Britain will not be able to independently conduct full-fledged amphibious operations. At the same time, Brazil, on the contrary, will turn into a rather powerful naval power.

It is also worth recalling that in 2018, London already sold the above-mentioned helicopter carrier HMS Ocean to Brazil. The ship was sold for only 80 million pounds sterling.

(C)UNIAN 2025