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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.
29. HMS Shetland
Island-class offshore patrol vessel HMS Shetland, commissioned into the Royal Navy in 1977, was sold to Bangladesh in 2002. She was renamed BNS Kapatakhaya, and took part in several key operations such as Exercise Shomudro Torongo, a joint bilateral exercise with the Royal Navy at Ganges delta region in 2009. | Royal Navy
30. HMS Guernsey
HMS Guernsey, an Island-class offshore patrol vessel, was sold to Bangladesh in 2004 and renamed BNS Sangu. She was regularly involved in naval exercises, including Exercise Milan at the Andaman Islands in India in 2008 and 2014. | Royal Navy
31. HMS Ocean
The Landing Platform Helicopter was decommissioned at a ceremony on March 27, 2018, with the late Queen Elizabeth II attending the ceremony. The warship was sold to Brazil. | Andrew Matthews - WPA Pool /Getty Images
32. HMS Bristol
The last sighting of Falklands War destroyer HMS Bristol leaving Portsmouth on June 11, 2025. She was sold to Turkey to be scrapped. | Royal Navy Photo: Submitted