Royal Navy: "Several customers" interested in buying HMS Albion and Bulwark says MP as she bats away £20m tag

The Ministry of Defence has been trying to sell HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark after they were officially retired from the fleet in November 2024. Ministers are seeking to recoup costs of trying to refit and maintain the vessels, stating that their condition was too poor to return to sea.

In a statement read to the House of Commons today (February 10), minister for defence procurement Maria Eagle said: “Neither Albion or Bulwark were due to sea ahead of their out of service dates in 2033 and 2034. The Royal Navy is exploring options to sell both HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark in a government to government sale. Several potential customers have shown interest, but no final decisions have been made.”

Reports in the Daily Mail and the national press, have reported that both Landing Platform docks could be sold for as little as £20m. A total of £132.7m was spent on refitting HMS Bulwark and Albion since 2010. Operations to further refit HMS Bulwark between 2022 and 2025 was estimated to cost roughly £71.2m.

Rebecca Smith, Conservative MP for South West Devon, said in parliament: “Given the fact that these ships are reportedly being sold to another navy for a figure that could well undervalue previous spends on refits and maintenance, how does the minister justify the economic impact of their sale on Plymouth and Devonport dockyard, let alone the reduction in amphibious capability in the Navy when the promised multirole support ships are at least half a decade away from service?”

Ms Eagle said she “does not recognise any of the figures which are being bandied around in the newspapers”. “It would not be accurate to take them as anything other than speculation,” she added.

“The disposal shows we are delivering for defence by divesting old capabilities to make way for the future as the First Sea Lord has put it. Effectively, ships were mothballed by the previous government, so I’m not going to take any lessons from that side of the house to do with these matters.”

Defence secretary John Healey previously said in the House of Commons that military chiefs gave the go-ahead for the Royal Navy ships to be decommissioned. Lieutenant General Sir Robert Magowan KCB CBE previously told a defence select committee that both vessels, alongside HMS Northumberland, were “no longer seaworthy”, so the government was “spending money against capabilities that were never going to be used operationally”.

He added that “uncomfortable” issues did remain with the amount of operational capabilities available to the armed forces. Reports in South America have said Brazil is one of the countries in discussions of purchasing the ships.