Entering Portsmouth harbour 3/10/07

HMS Albion L14

HMS Albion was built at Barrow in Furness and was launched in March 2001 by HRH The Princess Royal. She is affiliated to the City of Chester, and very proud of her 4 battle honours ranging from Algiers 1816 to Dardanelles 1915. The ship's motto is "Fortiler, Fideliter, Feliciter (Boldly, Faithfully, Successfully)".


The Albion Class, Landing Platform Dock Ships (LPD's) primary function is to embark, transport, and deploy and recover (by air and sea) troops and their equipment, vehicles and miscellaneous cargo, forming part of an Amphibious Assault Force.

Albion Class Statistics

Displacement:18,500 tonnes Docked down:21,500 tonnes (approx) Length:176m
Beam:25.6 m waterline, 28.9 metres max Draught:7.1 metres Speed:18 knots, range of 7000 nm.
Complement:325 Sensors:2 x Kelvin Hughes 1007 Radars Type 966 Surveillance Radar Armament:2 x Goalkeeper Close In Weapon System (CIWS), Seagnat Decoy System UAT Electronic Warfare System, 2 x 20mm close range guns 4 x Machine Gun positions
Propulsion2 x 6.25MW & 2 x 1.56MW diesel generators driving two AC motors through twin shafts and a bowthrust unit, all operating at 6.6KV. RNs first integrated Full Electric propulsion ships.
Military Lift: Embarked Military Personnel (EMF) 305 troops, with an overload of a further 405. Vehicle deck capacity for up to six tanks or around 30 armoured all-terrain tracked carriers. Floodable well dock, with the capacity to take either four utility landing craft (each capable of carrying a Challenger 2 tank) or shelter a hovercraft landing craft. Four smaller landing craft on davits, each capable of carrying 35 troops.
Two-spot 64m flight deck able to take medium support helicopters and stow a third. Deck is capable of taking a Chinook. The Albion design does not have a hangar but does have equipment needed to support aircraft operations.