This weekend, the Government confirmed the sale of Devonport-based HMS Ocean to Brazil for £84m, just four years after a £64m refit.

Luke Pollard MP said:

“HMS Ocean is a fine ship with a good crew. Her sale to Brazil means the Royal Navy is left less capable and smaller. With the MOD failing to manage defence budgets properly the Royal Navy is losing out. The sale of Ocean means the UK will lose its littoral helicopter carrier capability. Operating in littoral waters, close to the shore, is not what the new carriers are designed to do and Ocean’s capabilities will not be replicated by the Portsmouth-based carriers. Nor is HMS Queen Elizabeth an amphibious ship like Ocean, meaning we have lost one third of the nation’s amphibious ships with this sale.”

“It is a sad day for Devonport as we lose yet another warship to Conservative defence cuts. We now have to redouble efforts to make sure Ministers don’t also sell our two remaining amphibious warships HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark and cut the Royal Marines.”

“The sale of HMS Ocean will be spun by Government cheerleaders as good news. It’s not, it’s another shrinking of the Royal Navy in Devonport by Theresa May’s government.”

Find out more about this story on the Plymouth Herald website

https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/plymouth-news/sale-hms-ocean-brazil-sad-1231035