HMS Bulwark Becomes NDM Olapoque as Sister Ship Albion Awaits Disposal

HMS Bulwark has been sold to the Brazilian Navy and ceremonially renamed NDM Olapoque, ending more than two decades of Royal Navy service, while her sister ship HMS Albion remains alongside at HMNB Devonport pending disposal after being judged in too poor a condition to sell.

A Ministry of Defence spokesperson confirmed the sale, saying UK focus turns to the future of amphibious assault ships. The two landing platform docks were retired together, and only one found a buyer.

Both vessels are to be replaced by new amphibious transport ships announced as part of the Defence Investment Plan, under which the Royal Marines will be supported by a combined fleet with the Netherlands. A £2.4bn maritime partnership was confirmed in July 2026. The new ships will be built in UK shipyards working alongside Dutch industry partners. At 160 metres in length and displacing 15,000 tonnes, they are to be capable of transporting troops, vehicles and equipment including drones.

The flight decks of the future UK-Dutch fleet are being designed to operate current and future long-range drones and autonomous systems, in support of a transition to a mixed force in which conventionally crewed warships work alongside uncrewed vessels.

Lord Vernon Coaker, minister of state for defence in the House of Lords, said HMS Bulwark had served the country and its allies with distinction for over two decades and that he was pleased she would continue her story in Brazilian service with a long-standing defence partner. He described the Netherlands partnership as a step forward for the armed forces and a vote of confidence in British shipbuilding.

The financial record is less comfortable. Speaking in the Commons in November 2024, then defence secretary John Healey said both Bulwark and Albion were superficially kept on the books at a cost of £9m a year, and the decision to retire them drew criticism given the shrinking size of the fleet. It was previously confirmed that £2m a year was spent on Albion while she lay alongside. The Ministry of Defence's Annual Report and Accounts for 2024 to 2025 showed a constructive loss of £428m on the sale of the landing platform docks, a book value figure.

Reports in Brazil put the price paid for Bulwark at R$145m, roughly £20m. The figure has never been confirmed or denied by the ministry, and the minister of defence readiness and industry, Luke Pollard, has said it would not be appropriate to discuss commercially sensitive matters. The replacement ships are not expected until the 2030s, which leaves a gap of most of a decade between displacement that has gone and displacement that has yet to be ordered.