Royal Navy Warship ‘HMS Ocean’ Decommissioned Ahead of Sale To Brazil

The largest British warship, the former Royal Navy flagship HMS Ocean (L12), has been decommissioned during a ceremony Tuesday aboard the amphibious ship at the RN’s Devonport Naval Base, with plans for the Brazilian Navy to take possession of the ship in June 2018.

Last month, the British government announced it had inked a deal with Brazil, which agreed to pay about $118 million to buy the Royal Navy amphibious warship.

The 21,000-ton “Mighty O,” which entered service with the Royal Navy in 1998, is being replaced as the fleet’s flagship by the nation’s new aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth (R08), according to a statement released by the British government.

During 20 years of service, Ocean had been involved in multiple naval operations and exercises. Ocean was joined operations off the coast of Sierra Leone in 2000, Iraq in 2003, and Libya in 2011, according to the Royal Navy. Ocean has also provided humanitarian aid, to Honduras and Nicaragua in 1999 following Hurricane Mitch. This past September, Ocean again provided humanitarian aid in the Caribbean, to the British Virgin Islands in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma.