Operation Cunningham was a naval operation in April 2010 by units of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

to ship British military personnel and air passengers stranded in continental Europe by the

air travel disruption after the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption In response to concerns that volcanic ash ejected during the 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland would damage aircraft engines, the controlled airspace of many European countries was closed to instrument flight rules traffic, resulti ...

. The amphibious warfare ships HMS ''Albion'' and HMS ''Ocean'' and the aircraft carrier HMS ''Ark Royal'' were assigned to the operation, which was named after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

British admiral Andrew Cunningham. However, only ''Albion'' was directly involved in the repatriation effort.

By ship

''Albion''

''Albion'' was assigned to collect 200 soldiers from 3rd Battalion,

The Rifles The Rifles is an infantry regiment of the British Army. Formed in 2007, it consists of four Regular battalions and three Reserve battalions, plus a number of companies in other Army Reserve battalions. Each battalion of The Rifles was formerl ...

from

Santander Santander may refer to: Places * Santander, Spain, a port city and capital of the autonomous community of Cantabria, Spain * Santander Department, a department of Colombia * Santander State, former state of Colombia * Santander de Quilichao, a m ...

, and to fill the remaining space aboard with passengers, arriving on the morning of 20 April.

''Ocean''

''Ocean'' sailed from her Devonport base on 19 April, being on readiness in the Channel from 20 April.

''Ark Royal''

HMS ''Ark Royal'' was detached from

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

Exercise Joint Warrior Exercise Joint Warrior is a major biannual multi-national military exercise which takes place in the United Kingdom, predominately in north west Scotland. It is the successor of the Neptune Warrior exercises and Joint Maritime Course. Joint W ...

off north-west Scotland (also affected by the grounding of aircraft), reaching the south coast of England on 20 April and sailing from HMNB Portsmouth to join ''Ocean'' in the Channel later that day. However due to two leaks, she was stood down and returned to HMNB Portsmouth for a dry dock repair, with her ammunition still embarked

Notes

References