HMS Albion (L14)

Barrow-in- Furness, England

18,500 tons

176 m

29 m

7.1 m

325 sailors, 710 landing troops

4 diesel-electric generators

18 knots

7000 miles at 18 knots

2 x Goalkeeper CIWS - 2 × 30 -mm guns

3 × total: among others, EH- 101 Sea King, Lynx

HMS Albion ( L14 ) is the first of two new amphibious landing ships (LPD ) of the Royal Navy and the ninth ship of that name. It belongs to the same named Albion class and replaced with her sister ship HMS Bulwark HMS Intrepid and the landing ships HMS Fearless from the 1960s. It was built to Albion in Barrow-in -Furness.

History

Middle of the 1990s the Royal Navy needed a replacement for its outdated landing ships HMS Intrepid and HMS Fearless. 1996 within the Department of Defense to the defense group British Aerospace a contract for the construction of two larger and more powerful ships. 1998 began with the construction of HMS Albion. After commissioning in 2003 the ship completed until April 2004, extensive tests in the North Sea and Atlantic Ocean. It took part in the maneuvers Joint Winter 04 off the coast of Norway in part, where it acted as a command center for the first time and landing craft. In addition, they participated in two maneuvers off the coast of the United States and Scotland part. In November 2004, she was sent to the coast of West Africa to provide humanitarian aid in the Ivory Coast. In July 2005, she participated in the International Fleet Review in the Solent in part. In early 2006, a first modernization of command and communication facilities took place in Rosyth. End of 2006, the HMS Albion acted as the flagship of a fleet of 13 ships Association off the coast of West Africa.

The ship only consulted in accordance with the requirements of the published in October 2010 new White Paper the Government now to reserve fleet and shall be maintained in a Readiness Extended. In 2016, they should Readiness Status push back in the high to the Fleet, where she replaced her sister ship.

Construction

During construction of the Albion class you benefited from the experience that could be collected by the HMS Ocean already. This made it possible largely to build the ship by civilian standards. This reduced both the construction as well as operating costs. Also be reached with the construction of the hull back to the design of the Invincible class. In favor of less expensive and more environmentally friendly electric motors that are powered by four diesel generators, the maximum speed was limited to 18 knots.

The ships have capacity to take up to 710 additional soldiers and 70 armored vehicles for landing operations on board. At the rear there is a floating dock, where the eight landing craft can be loaded. In addition, the class has a 64 m long and 28 m wide helicopter deck. This is able to take three simultaneous transport helicopter. Although the ships do not have a hangar, but still have the means of the helicopter to wait on board and repair.

The Albion class has one of the world's most advanced mobile command centers. From it the largest military operations can even be routed. The coordination of soldiers of other nations on joint operations is possible. The ships supported the currently active helicopter carrier ( HMS Illustrious or HMS Ocean ) as a command ship.