.jpg?width=96&crop=1:1,smart)
Each vessel that flies the White Ensign has great affinity with those who served on them and the general public. Many Royal Navy ships bare the name of cities across the country, while also being affiliated to great naval bases such as Portsmouth.
The Royal Navy is looking to modernise its fleet and introduce new capabilities to replace the ones that are going out. Armed forces minister Luke Pollard previously stressed this in a Defence Select Committee meeting yesterday, stressing that there will be transition period for the force.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) often sells ships to other countries if they are functional, with many requiring restoration before being handed over. This is often to mitigate ongoing costs incurred to the taxpayer, especially if a vessel is not able to be used operationally. Closer diplomatic ties through such sales are also considered.
Many vessels are considered no longer seaworthy, and will be auctioned off to scrapyards across the globe - particularly those in Turkey that can take on a high proportion of ships. Here is a list of every Royal Navy ship that has been recycled or sold since the year 2000.
Vessels that have been decommissioned and do not currently have their future mapped out for them, such as HMS Montrose, HMS Enterprise, and others, have not been included.
Three vessels have no associated picture, so they are listed below:
- HMS Bridport: A Sandown-class minehunter, now known as EML Ugandi, which was decommissioned in 2005 and part of a deal to sell three minehunters to Estona.
- RFA Olwen: She was handed over for disposal on September 19, 2000. She was scrapped at the Alang Ship Breaking Yard in India.
- HMS Kellington: The Ton-class minesweeper was decommissioned in 1993 and was turned into a training ship for the sea cadets. She was closed in 2005 for safety reasons, before being broken up in situ by Able UK in County Durham.
1. HMS Illustrious
We have had to wave goodbye to dozens of Royal Navy ships this century, that were either sold or scrapped. HMS Illustrious, a Portsmouth-based Invincible-class aircraft carrier that performed various duties in the aftermath of the Falklands War, was scrapped in 2016 despite the government in 2012 stating that she would be preserved. | Royal Navy
2. HMS Clyde
HMS Clyde, an offshore patrol vessel, was decommissioned at HMNB Portsmouth in December 2019 and transferred to the Royal Bahrain Naval Force and renamed RBNS Al-Zubara in 2020. | Royal Navy
3. HMS London
HMS London, a Type 22 frigate, was decommissioned in 1999 and sold to Romania on January 14, 2003. She was the flagship of the Royal Navy task force during the 1991 Gulf War. | Royal Navy
4. HMS Fearless
The amphibious assault ship was decommissioned in 2002 and towed to Ghent in Belgium in 2007 to be scrapped. She was the first warship to be successfully exported for recycling by a Western government hat fully complied with international agreements and the principles concerning environmentally sound management of waste. | Steve Reid Photo: The News archive