HMS Albion Named as Royal Navy Flagship

HMS Albion has been named as the UK Royal Navy’s new flagship, taking over the role from HMS Ark Royal, which will be decommissioned in January 2011.

The 176m-long, 8,000t assault ship has a displacement capacity of 21,500t and can cruise at speeds of 18kt.

The warship, built by BAE, and is a landing platform dock ship of the Royal Navy, belonging to the Albion class.

The ship was primarily designed as an amphibious warfare ship. It is capable of accommodating a crew of 256, can carry various armoured vehicles and is equipped with a flight deck that can operate two helicopters.

The ship is used to attend incidents around the world and transported people during the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud disruption in April 2010.