Name Fearless class Succeeded by Albion class Completed 2 | Operators Royal Navy In commission 1965–2002 Retired 2 | |
 | ||
The Fearless-class amphibious assault ships were the first purpose-built amphibious warfare vessels in the Royal Navy. The class comprised two ships: HMS Fearless and HMS Intrepid.
Designed as landing platform docks (LPD), they were designed to transport and land troops by sea either using Landing Craft Utility (LCU) or helicopters. As constructed, the ships have an internal dock that is accessed via the stern—while in port, vehicles can drive up the stern ramp and into the internal vehicle decks. At sea, the ships could partially submerge themselves at the stern, flooding the internal dock and allowing landing craft to come right up to the edge of the vehicle deck.
Each ship carried four LCUs in the stern dock, with four smaller landing craft on davits on the superstructure. They provided accommodation for up to 400 troops, which could be increased to 700, if no vehicles were carried.
Service
Intrepid was put into extended reserve in 1991, effectively removing her from active service. While in this state, she was used as a source of spares to maintain Fearless. Intrepid was finally withdrawn from service in August 1999. Fearless was kept in service, and continued to be deployed in concert with HMS Ocean until the end of 2002, when she too was withdrawn from service, ready for the Albion class to enter the fleet. The Fearless class were the last steam-powered surface vessels in Royal Navy service (nuclear submarines use a steam turbine drive).
The successful deployments of the two ships, with the flexibility their configuration provided, meant that they have now been replaced by two new LPD ships of the Albion class. These LPD have been developed and commissioned despite the development of Ocean, a helicopter carrier which itself has considerable assault landing capability.