Inside the Royal Navy’s Swiss Army knife: Amphibious assault ship HMS Albion opens its doors as it drops anchor in Gibraltar after a ten month deployment to south east Asia
- HMS Albion has docked in Gibralter after a tour of south east Asia, visiting Japan, Vietnam and Singapore
- The flagship carries more than 400 sailors and Royal Marines with a range of skills and experience
- Its loading dock is packed with vehicles to support Marines who have been conducting amphibious training
- The vessel carries emergency supplies for disaster relief operations, from food stashes to water pumps
The Royal Navy’s ‘Swiss Army knife’ which hosts more than 400 sailors and Royal Marines and an array of landing craft arrived in Gibraltar following a successful ten month deployment.
HMS Albion, one of the Navy’s two amphibious assault ships, has enjoyed an extremely successful period of defence engagement in south east Asia.
The vessel exercised with a French Task Group in the Java Sea and became the first Royal Navy warship to visit Indonesia in almost seven years.
Albion’s Royal Marines have also undertaken a period of jungle training in Brunei.
The HMS Albion, which has dropped anchor in Gibraltar, has been described by successive commanding officers as the Royal Navy’s ‘Swiss Army knife’
Following her stay in Gibraltar HMS Albion, which has enjoyed an extremely successful period of defence engagement in south east Asia. will be returning back home to Plymouth (pictured: Combined Operations Room)
The ship’s loading dock is packed with vehicles, trucks and heavy plant to support Royal Marines who have been conducting amphibious training around the Pacific Rim
Large and small craft are also onboard – capable of ferrying people, emergency supplies and several vehicles across shallow waters (pictured: Landing Craft Utility Vehicles)
The ship has enjoyed a series of defence engagement visits to Japan, where she was the first UK ship of her size and type to visit Tokyo and has achieved amphibious training with the Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force in the seas off Japan.
Most recently, HMS Albion departed Vietnam where she enjoyed the best of Vietnamese hospitality as well as taking the opportunity to engage with the Vietnamese government, their armed forces and British business interests.
HMS Albion has also supported Exercise Setia Kawan 3, between the forces of The Sultan of Brunei and the Sailors and Royal Marines of HMS Albion.
Pictured: HMS Albion berthed in Port Duqm, Oman, in October. The ship has supported Exercise Setia Kawan 3, between the forces of The Sultan of Brunei and the Sailors and Royal Marines of HMS Albion
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Pictured: The ship’s current commanding officer, Captain Tim Neild RN. HMS Albion is one of the Navy’s two amphibious assault ships
This period of amphibious training and demonstration culminated in a combined and joint amphibious assault as witnessed by the Sultan personally.
Albion has visited Singapore and supports a number of Defence Engagement events with local business and government that culminated in a Defence Sales and Industry Day which brought together key leaders and the business community in Singapore with the best of innovation from UK Industry.
Following her visit to Gibraltar, HMS Albion, Command and Control Platform, Assault Ship of the Royal Marines and Plymouth’s Flagship will be returning home to Plymouth.
The ship has been described by successive commanding officers as the Royal Navy’s ‘Swiss Army knife’ – capable of doing anything.
The flagship carries more than 400 sailors and Royal Marines with a range of skills and experience, including engineers, chefs, medics and technicians.
The ship has enjoyed a series of defence engagement visits to Japan, where she was the first UK ship of her size and type to visit Tokyo
Most recently, HMS Albion departed Vietnam where she enjoyed the best of Vietnamese hospitality as well as taking the opportunity to engage with the Vietnamese government, their armed forces and British business interests
All were trained in disaster relief work at the Royal Navy’s specialist training complex in Plymouth last December – dealing with the aftermath of a mock hurricane and carrying out a large scale evacuation of ‘inhabitants’ (played by students), a couple of months before the assault ship sailed on her deployment.
The ship carries a limited amount of emergency supplies for disaster relief operations, from food supplies to water pumps, and is able to produce fresh water and food from the galley, which can be delivered ashore to feed people en masse.
The ship’s loading dock is packed with vehicles, trucks and heavy plant to support Royal Marines who have been conducting amphibious training around the Pacific Rim.
Large and small craft are also onboard – capable of ferrying people, emergency supplies and several vehicles across shallow waters.
The craft can also operate far from Albion herself if needed.
The Kit Belonged To Sergeant Weston, who was killed while leading a patrol operating near the village of Sukmanda in southern Nahr-e Saraj district, Helmand province
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