Royal Navy decommissions HMS Ocean

Royal Navy’s former fleet flagship and helicopter carrier HMS Ocean was decommissioned on Tuesday in a ceremony attended by Her Majesty The Queen at the Devonport Naval Base in Plymouth.

Queen Elizabeth, who is the ship’s lady sponsor, inspected the sailors and was later transported on an aircraft lift to the lower decks as part of the Mighty O’s decommissioning ceremony.

HMS Ocean was retired after 20 years of service and 50,000 miles covered during deployments around the world.

Since commissioning into Royal Navy in 1998 she has been involved in operation Palliser during the Sierra Leone civil war in 2000, operation Telic off the coast of Iraq in 2003, operation Ellamy as part of an international coalition in Libya in 2011, and most recently the hurricane relief contingent on operation Ruman in the Caribbean.

The decision to decommission HMS Ocean was made as part of the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) 2015 and the ships was sold to Brazil this year.

The Brazilian Navy paid £84 million for the ship and will receive it this summer after Babcock and BAE Systems carry out necessary modifications before the transfer.

The role of new Royal Navy Royal Navy flagships will be taken over by the two Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers.