HMS Albion (L14)
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| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Ordered: | 18 July 1996 |
| Laid down: | 23 May 1998 Barrow-in-Furness, England |
| Launched: | 9 March 2001 Barrow-in-Furness, England |
| Commissioned: | 19 June 2003 |
| Decommissioned: | |
| Fate: | Active in service as of 2007 |
| Struck: | |
| General Characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 18,500 tonnes, 21,500 tonnes whilst 'docked down' |
| Length: | 176 m |
| Beam: | 28.9 m |
| Draught: | 7.1 m |
| Propulsion: | 2 x Wartsila 6.25 MW & 2 x Wartsila 1.56 MW diesel generators driving two AC motors through twin shafts and a bowthrust unit, all operating at 6.6 kV |
| Speed: | 18 knots (33 km/h) |
| Range: | 13000 km |
| Complement: | 325 |
| Armament: | 2 × Goalkeeper CIWS 2 × 20 mm close range guns 4 × Machine Gun positions Seagnat Decoy System |
| Aircraft: | |
| Motto: | Fortiler, Fideliter, Feliciter (Boldly, Faithfully, Successfully) |
The ninth and current HMS Albion (2001-present) is a Landing Platform Dock (LPD) ship of the Royal Navy built in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England, UK. Albion is the one of the newest ships of the Navy and provides an amphibious assault capability. She is the nameship of the Albion class landing platform dock, which also includes HMS Bulwark. The ship also carries a permanently-embarked Marines landing Craft unit, 6 Assault Squadron Royal Marines.
She was launched on 9 March 2001 and was commissioned on 19 June 2003 by her sponsor The Princess Royal.
In 2003 she received the Freedom of the City of Chester and also had a prominent role in the Queen's Colour Parade for the Royal Navy in Plymouth Sound only the third time a Fleet Colour has been given in the Royal Navy's history.
In early 2004 the ship deployed on a multinational exercise for the first time, taking part in Exercise Joint Winter 04 off Norway, following which she was declared fully operational. Her next deployment was the Aurora exercises on the eastern seaboard of the United States. On 11 November 2004 the ship was directed towards Côte d'Ivoire to support Operation Phillis. Albion underwent a refit in early 2006. The refit included the installation of a new command, control and communications suite.
During the Vela Deployment, Albion acted as the Amphibious Task Group flagship. The deployment lasted from 11 September 2006 until 22 November 2006. In total approximately 3,000 British personnel and 11 ships of the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary was involved. This deployment saw, for the first time, an Albion class vessel taking part in amphibious operations with a Bay class auxiliary landing ship dock, RFA Mounts Bay (L3008).
[edit] External links
| Albion-class landing platform dock |
| Albion | Bulwark |
List of amphibious assault ships of the Royal Navy |
