Amphibious assault ship HMS Albion is all tanked up and on her way to the United States for a major American-led multinational exercise.

And for the first time Albion is carrying four Challenger II main battle tanks of the 1st Royal Tank Regiment.

The Challenger II tanks form the heart of the British Army’s armoured capability, but have never previously been deployed on a warship to form part of an amphibious landing force.

The tanks will join French armoured reconnaissance vehicles as well as vehicles of the Royal Marines and the Dutch Marine Corps for Exercise Rapid Alliance, which will be conducted on the extensive US Marine Corps training areas in North Carolina.

Capt Peter Hudson, the Commanding Officer of HMS Albion, said: “This trial with the Challenger II brings a potent new dimension to the landing force capability, providing a variety of exciting options to exploit in the littoral environment.

“HMS Albion is an extremely versatile warship – we can embark a range of equipment optimised for the threat and the potential operating area as well as providing the essential command and control facilities for the Brigade and Amphibious Task Group Commanders.”

Albion forms part of the Royal Navy’s Aurora 04 deployment – a task group which includes Devonport-based helicopter carrier HMS Ocean, Type 23 frigates HM ships Sutherland and Marlborough, and a number of Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessels.

The core of the landing force is made up of Bickleigh-based 42 Commando Royal Marines and a battalion of the 1st Royal Netherlands Marine Corps.

The ships will be joined off the eastern seaboard of the States by another UK task group, led by aircraft carrier HMS Invincible, which includes Type 22 frigate HMS Cornwall and a mine countermeasures group – amounting to the largest peacetime maritime deployment for some years.

Exercise Rapid Alliance is a large exercise designed to hone allied interoperability at sea and ashore, and ill include forces from the United States, Canada, the Netherlands, France and Germany.

Albion will be joined in the Fleet by her sister ship HMS Bulwark, currently in build at BAE Systems’ yard at Barrow-in-Furness – she is expected at Devonport for the first time in the summer.

Together these ships are a key element in the programme of modernisation for the UK’s amphibious assault force, and with HMS Ocean, the three ships cement Devonport’s status as the UK’s centre of excellence for amphibious capability.