Albion Class Amphibious Assault Ships (LPD) (RN)

[GibMariner]

Looking at some of the images from HMS Trenchant's rededication, HMS Albion seems to already have Artisan installed:

[ArmChairCivvy]

early next year to start sea trails later in the year.

about HMS Albion

Rotation about next summer then, between the two?

[GibMariner]

early next year to start sea trails later in the year.

about HMS Albion

Rotation about next summer then, between the two?

Looks likely, unless there are further delays. Originally was meant to happen in 2016. Hopefully Bulwark doesn't go into "extended readiness" until Albion is worked up. If there is sufficient manpower to temporarily man both vessels that is.

[dmereifield]

How long does it take to convert from extended readiness to operational status if required urgently (e.g. Falklands 2 type of scenario)? Assuming manpower isn't an issue

[marktigger]

Intrepid when she was rushed back i think i've read wasn't fully re equipped but had suficient of everything to do the job can't remember whether it was her or Fearless had failure of their pumps to flood the dock so did the risky thing of opening the dockgate and flooding that way.


I do wonder should a 4.5 mk 8 have been fitted to the LPD's to add shore support fire. Or could MLRS be fired from flightdeck hoping to efflux goes over the side. I know the 3d movement will turn the projectile into a to whom it may concern unless there is a guidance package aboard.

[marktigger]

question would the flight deck of an LPD/LPDA/LHD or point class and the suspension of an AS90 be up to them being fired from the deck with out damage to ship or gun?

[GibMariner]

[Gabriele]

Will they pick up Mounts Bay once in the Med, i wonder...?

By what i understood, they will join up with Diamond in the Med and then with Daring in the Gulf. So, finally, a Type 45 in the task group, at least for a while...

[GibMariner]

Will they pick up Mounts Bay once in the Med, i wonder...?

By what i understood, they will join up with Diamond in the Med and then with Daring in the Gulf. So, finally, a Type 45 in the task group, at least for a while...

I was under the same impression, however this RN article only states that Diamond will be replacing Mounts Bay on Op Sophia for a couple of months while the latter vessel undergoes a "planned maintenance period" (perhaps in Gib again to keep her in the Med? She's already here, assuming transfer will take place here when Diamond arrives). No word on what comes after, or if Diamond and/or Mounts Bay will join the task group.

[GibMariner]

Bulwark & Ocean


Bulwark 20mm gunnery training

[marktigger]

so they still have the gam bo1 thought they would have been replaced by ds30 by now

[GibMariner]

More videos of HMS Bulwark training:

[GibMariner]

CHF continues to train aboard HMS Bulwark

[GibMariner]

HMS Bulwark prepares for major exercise

The amphibious warship HMS Bulwark is sailing on Monday (19 September) to lead a major exercise to the Adriatic and Arabian Seas.

Plymouth-based HMS Bulwark has spent the last four weeks preparing for this autumn’s annual Joint Expeditionary Force (Maritime) (JEF) deployment with a combination of training off the SW Coast and essential maintenance alongside in Devonport Naval Base.

Captain James Parkin, the ship’s commanding officer of said: “My sailors and Royal Marines have put everything into making sure that Bulwark is ready to deploy and I am proud of all the work they have put in to reach this stage.

"I am confident that my people and my ship are ready to meet any challenge thrown at us in our demanding and exciting future programme, and we look forward to embarking the Commander of the Amphibious Task Group, and his staff, to lead the British Armed Forces’ major operational deployment of 2016.”

The four week package of trials, training, and tactics was designed to ensure HMS Buklwark was both ready to deploy on time and capable of any emergent tasking.

http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/news-and-la ... r-exercise

[jonas]

so they still have the gam bo1 thought they would have been replaced by ds30 by now

Likewise Goalkeeper, I thought they were being replaced with Phalanx

[GibMariner]

Likewise Goalkeeper, I thought they were being replaced with Phalanx

They are. Albion receiving Phalanx as part of her refit, Bulwark will surely get the same when she has her own reactivation refit.

[Gabriele]

They are being replaced. As soon as HMS Albion comes out of refit and Bulwark goes into mothball, their days are over. Evidently, as "easy" as installing Phalanx might be, the removal of Goalkeeper is complex enough that they have not wanted to touch it before refit time.

Hopefully HMS Albion will come out of refit not just with Phalanx, but with ds30 as well. The first is a certainty, the second no, because i haven't seen it announced anywhere yet.

[GibMariner]

HMS Bulwark's departure last night:

[The Armchair Soldier]

HMS Bulwark firing her Goalkeeper. Because everyone likes some "BRRRT", right?

[Ron5]

You bet!!!

[SKB]

"Albion"
The white cliffs of Dover are the reason why England was also known as Albion. It comes from the word 'albino', meaning 'white'. The white cliffs of Dover being the first thing the Romans saw when they invaded Britain.

[GibMariner]

HMS Bulwark arrived in Gibraltar on Saturday:

[GibMariner]

HMS Bulwark departed yesterday under a heavy levanter cloud:



Before departure, 300 personnel took part in the Rock run:


Interview with Lt Col Nik Cavill, Captain James Parkin & Commodore Andrew Burns (COMATG):

[hovematlot]

HMS Bulwark and other elements of the JMEF now transiting south through Red Sea.

[R686]

It's quite interesting to see a glimpse of what happens in a refit

HMS Albion Reaches New Milestone In Refit

(Source: Royal Navy; issued Nov 02, 2016)

The Royal Navy amphibious warship HMS Albion has reached a new milestone in her extensive refit before rejoining the fleet.

The rebirth of the amphibious command ship continues in Plymouth having been placed in long term lay-up with her own generators now powering lighting and computer systems in the latest stage of the refit.

HMS Bulwark, also Plymouth-based, has been Britain's on-call assault ship as her sister HMS Albion undergoes her refit. Next year the two ships trade places as HMS Bulwark goes into long-term refit and HMS Albion completes her massive two-year keel-to-topmast overhaul.

HMS Albion has been gradually coming to life since the middle of 2015. A year into her refit, work below the waterline was completed in dry dock, allowing the to be flooded and she was towed to a new basin for completion of the refit afloat.

Today she has her superstructure covered in scaffolding and tarpaulin, and with the 87-strong ship's company ticking off milestones by the week as they gear up for the crew moving back on board early in the New Year, the arrival of the first commanding officer in six years, then sea trials and being formally handed back to the Navy and a rededication in the autumn followed by operational sea training.

So far the project has involved 3,500 people with a maximum of 500 at any one time. By the time the revamp is finished, the ship will have devoured 1.3 million man-hours.

HMS Albion is the first vessel to be newly equipped with a fresh, rather than salt-water, cooling system, which has meant new piping fitted throughout. It means the sailors and the hi-tech systems aboard should be far cooler in the Gulf region, for instance.

Some 25 miles of new electrical cables have been installed, two miles of pipework replaced, 100 pumps overhauled, 1,500 valves replaced and 20,000 square metres of steel in 34 ballast tanks preserved - enough to cover three football pitches.

The ‘Phalanx’ automated close-defence gun system is being fitted in place of the former ‘Goalkeeper’ system, which is being retired across the fleet. The ship now has the newly fitted ‘Artisan’ radar which can track more than 800 contacts as close as 125ft or as far away as 125 miles. To deal with so much potential extra data from radars, the operations room has a new command system.

The vital ‘soul’ of the ship – her people - will return early next year with half of the crew transferring to HMS Albion. In the meantime, the ‘skeleton’ crew already on board have been reminding affiliated organisationsand VIPs - notably the city of Chester - and the ship's sponsor, Princess Anne, that their ship is on her way back.

Commander Mark Jones, HMS Albion’s head of weapon engineering, said: "We've done our utmost to keep the spirit of Albion alive - certainly while we've been refitting her, with ship's company attending memorial services to Jutland, Remembrance Day parades, visiting our affiliates.

"That will only step up in 2017."

The ship will complete her amphibious training with a workout with the Royal Marines and Commando Helicopter Force, based at Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton, in the South West before her first deployment.

-ends-