David Cameron was last night accused of ‘burying the bad news’ as it emerged a decision to axe the Royal Navy’s flagship was omitted from a Government whitepaper.

HMS Ocean, the biggest ship in the British armed forces, is to be decommissioned in 2018 – four years after it underwent a £65million upgrade.

There will be no like-for-like replacement for the ship – the Navy’s amphibious assault ship and helicopter carrier – which is currently deployed in the Mediterranean on a Nato exercise.

David Cameron was last night accused of ‘burying the bad news’ when it was revealed a decision to axe the Royal Navy's flagship was omitted from his Strategic Defence and Security Review

The Ministry of Defence confirmed the move would happen in 2018, when the ship ‘reaches the end of her life’, despite no mention of it in the Strategic Defence and Security Review.

Instead the paper focused on the purchase of eight new Type 26 warships and two Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers, which will be equipped with F-35 fighter jets but will not come into service until 2020.

The only mention of the scrapping of the ship was in the House of Lords, when Earl Howe spoke about its decommissioning during an SDSR debate on Monday.

Last night Admiral Lord West, former head of the Navy, said getting rid of the ship was ‘such a waste’.

HMS Ocean (pictured), the biggest ship in the British armed forces, is to be decommissioned in 2018

He said: ‘I think they are burying the bad news... HMS is only flattop and until we get the other two, she’s quite an important ship.

‘It is unfortunate the only mention of the ship being decommissioned was in the Lords by Earl Howe, when it should have been made clear in the paper.

Maria Eagle, Labour’s Shadow Defence Secretary, said the decision was ‘a hammer blow’ for the Navy at a time when no like-for-like replacement is due.

The Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers, which are touted to take the place of Ocean, will not be in service before 2020.

She said: ‘In 2010 the Tories scrapped the Navy’s flagship, HMS Ark Royal. Now we learn they will shelve our current flagship, HMS Ocean.

‘The Government needs to come clean and explain exactly why it is retiring this key capability not only months after it was re-fitted, but years before the new class of aircraft carriers will be ready for service.

‘With serious manpower issues unresolved, questions about the number of warships, and years more without maritime patrol capabilities, it is becoming clear this defence review is a real hammer blow for the Royal Navy.’