In a noticeably spun Press Release UK MoD has announced “HMS Bulwark to transfer to Brazilian Navy as UK turns to future of amphibious ships”.
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Press Release, Whitehall, August 2026: [extract] HMS Bulwark is to be sold* to the Brazilian Navy, ending more than two decades of service with the Royal Navy, as UK focus turns to the future of amphibious assault ships.
HMS Bulwark, one of the Royal Navy’s two Albion-class amphibious assault ships, was commissioned in 2005 and went on to play a central role in operations around the world, including amphibious deployments, humanitarian assistance missions and multinational exercises with allies and partners. Her sister ship, HMS Albion, remains alongside at HMNB Devonport pending disposal.
The transfer comes as the UK and Netherlands confirmed a new £2.4 billion maritime partnership in July 2026 to deliver a fleet of new amphibious transport ships, replacing the capability provided by the Albion-class.
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*Editor’s Footnote: The announcement in the MoD press release, first published at 2:08pm on the eve of the English August Bank Holiday, of the sale of HMS Bulwark to Brazil is not actually news as details that the Latin American country was buying the two Albion-class amphibious ships was previously announced in April 2025 at the LAAD defence & security expo in Rio de Janeiro following the signing of a Letter of Intent between the Royal Navy and the Brazilian Navy; during DSEI 2025 in September the formal sale contract was signed, which by my reckoning indicates the ship was sold almost a year ago rather than its status being “to be sold”.
The real story here is not that “UK focus turns to the future of amphibious assault ships” but that Britain and the Royal Navy (plus Royal Marines) face yet another capability gap, which will almost certainly stretch well into the 2030s, following the cancellation of the 2021 Multi-Role Strike Ship plans under the long-delayed 2026 UK DIP (i.e. Defence Investment Plan or De-Investment Plan, dependent on whether or not rose-tinted spectacles are worn). It is now proposed post-DIP 2026 that the two out of service Albion-class and three remaining Bay-class amphibious ships plus the demobbed RFA Argus should be replaced by four Dutch-UK Amphibious Transport Ships some time in the future – but almost certainly not before the second Dutch ship in the class is commissioned c.2033.
I dislike excessive political spin and don’t feel any necessity to recirculate it, hence only posting the above 120-word extract from the press release on Joint-Forces.
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