A BARROW warship which went on to become the Royal Navy's flagship has reached the milestone of 16 years since she was launched at the shipyard.

HMS Albion's crew paid tribute to the assault ship with a personalised birthday cake to celebrate the anniversary of her launch.


Celebration: Dene Hitchen and Kyle MacDonald cutting HMS Albion's birthday cake The honour of cutting the cake fell to the youngest and oldest sailors on board the 18,500 tonne ship – 18-year-old weapons engineer Kyle MacDonald and 53-year-old petty officer Dene Hitchen.

HMS Albion's keel was laid down at the Barrow shipyard on May 23, 1998. She was launched by Princess Anne on March 9 in 2001.

Sister ship HMS Bulwark was launched six months later on November 15, 2001, making it the last vessel to undergo a traditional slipway launch in Barrow.

HMS Albion’s senior naval officer, Commander Stuart Yates, said: “Birthdays are always special. The crew and I are in effect the ship’s family, which makes us proud to celebrate Albion and our present to her will be returning her to sea this summer.”

HMS Albion has a dock which works like a roll-on-roll-off ferry platform from which it can send out landing craft filled with troops and equipment.

The ship's motto is ‘fortiter, fideliter, feliciter’ translated as ‘boldly, faithfully, successfully’.
Afloat: HMS Albion after she was launched in Barrow

The vessel is nearing the end of a 24-month multi-million pound refit at the Devonport Naval Base in Plymouth.

Later this month, she will depart her non-tidal berth and take her rightful place alongside the Royal Navy’s Amphibious Centre of Excellence in preparation for returning to sea for the first time in almost six years.