New UK support ships to go ahead, LPDs to remain in service
HMS Albion will be replaced by planned MRSS. (Photo: UK MoD/Crown Copyright)
The Royal Navy is said to be looking to acquire a class of vessel capable of operating as a stand-alone platform in a highly contested environment, fitted with a range of weapons and sensors for self-defence.
UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps has given the go-ahead for the procurement of new Multi Role Support Ships (MRSS) for the Royal Marines and taken the Royal Navy’s two Albion-class Landing Platform Docks (LPDs) off the endangered list.
The original plan, working together with the Dutch on a similar requirement, would have seen the retirement of HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark but instead these ships will remain in service and the new MRSS will take the UK fleet to 28 ships and submarines in service, in construction or being designed.
Shapps said: “I have given a green
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