A year ago today, HMS Albion, one of the Royal Navy’s two amphibious assault ships, was in a dry dock in Devonport Dockyard as part of a £26M package of work. The ship and its crew of 350 sailors and Royal Marines is reaching the end of a journey through setting to work, sea trials and Operational Sea Training and now takes on the role of Fleet Amphibious Flagship from HMS Bulwark. Commander Amphibious Task Group will use the ship as his afloat Head Quarters alongside the Commander of 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines. It is expected that both organisations will embark in HMS Albion for a series of exercises throughout 2010 and the ship will be available at short notice as the United Kingdom’s high readiness amphibious Command platform for contingent operations anywhere in the world.
Commander Amphibious Task Group, Commodore Paul Bennett, hosted a short ceremony to mark the handover onboard HMS ALBION on Tuesday 5 January. As well as The Commanding Officers of HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark, HMS Ocean’s Commanding Officer and representatives from 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines and 1 Assault Group Royal Marines were also present.
The Commanding Officer of HMS Albion, Captain John Kingwell said:
“The handover marks the end of a long road of regeneration and is testament to a great deal of hard work from Babcock Marine in preparing the ship during the recent Docking Period as well as my own ship’s company who have trained hard in demanding conditions during the recent operational work-up”.
He stated that he was looking forward to an exciting and testing year, working with COMATG and the Royal Marines with a programme that would take the ship from Norway to the United States.
Commodore Bennett thanked Captain Gavin Pritchard for the hard work and dedication shown by HMS Bulwark and her ship’s company, particularly during the TAURUS deployment to the Far East in 2009. He said that he was delighted that HMS Albion was taking up the gauntlet and he was very much looking forward to working from the ship in 2010 and beyond.
