- It costs £2m per year to maintain the old amphibious assault ship
- UK Defence Secretary John Healey cut the vessel from the surface fleet in November 2024
- Yet defence Minister Luke Pollard says the cost is necessary to ensure the ship remains safe to support the generation of its sister, HMS Bulwark
The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) retains the former amphibious assault ship, HMS Albion, at HMNB Devonport at a cost of around £2m per year.
For what seems like an unnecessary expense, UK Minister of State for Defence Readiness and Industry Luke Pollard wrote in a parliamentary written statement on 18 February 2026 that it is mandatory to ensure the ship remains safe.
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The ageing vessel, which served the Royal Navy for 20 years, is being retained to support the renewal of its sister, the second in class HMS Bulwark, before it enters service with the Brazilian Navy; it was sold for £20m on the sidelines of the DSEI exhibition in September 2025.
Naval Technology contacted the UK MoD to confirm how Albion will support what Pollard referred to as the “generation” of Bulwark, but the Department declined to comment.
Nevertheless, funds continue to flow toward the Albion, which is on a tidal mooring, despite the government having axed the two ships in a slew of cuts across the Royal Navy in late November 2024.
Cost breakdown
To make matters worse, the UK Government had already spent £72.1m on refitting Bulwark between 2022 and 2024, yet £2m will accrue each year to ensure Albion complies with environmental and safety legislation until its eventual disposal, for which there are currently no plans or timeline.
The Conservative Party, formerly in power, have pointed to the financial loss of the Albion-class when considering the total investment in the two ships and their subsequent decommissioning: this comes to more than £50m after refitting, deducting the Bulwark sale and adding the annual safety costs.
But since decommissioning, the Labour government, including Pollard, have repeatedly maintained that HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark were “tied up by the last government” with no intention to send them to sea again before their out-of-service dates in the 2030s.
If both ships remained in service today, as they likely would have under a Conservative government, it has been estimated to cost £9m a year in maintenance. Therefore, the incumbent government continue to save around £7m per year, proving these ships were “effectively mothballed” under the Conservatives.
Royal Navy decline
But this is not a success story for Labour, under whose governance the Royal Navy surface fleet, particularly its frigates, which can now be counted on one hand, has reduced so much that it risks being unable to effectively patrol and secure its own maritime economic exclusion zone.
After their decommissioning, the Albion-class were replaced with civilian-crewed Bay-class landing ships in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, an MoD service that provides the Navy with logistical and operational support. This class of ship was not originally designed for a combat role.
Naval Technology recently determined that what the Navy needs are hulls in the water, and ships not so sophisticated that they spend an inordinate amount of time broken down or undergoing maintenance. To that end, it may be worth considering a third batch of updated River-class Offshore Patrol Vessels while Types 26 and 31 are being built in Scotland.
Additional reporting from Richard Thomas.
