When a naval ship is no longer required for active service with the Royal Navy a considerable amount of engineering activity is required to achieve a successful decommissioning date. The groundwork ensures the materiel condition of the platform is maintained to prevent the degradation of equipment availability in the lead up to out of service date. This decommissioning date however, is increasingly seen as not being the end of the operational life of the platforms. There are several notable recent examples of the sale of RN assets including the Brazilian purchase of HMS Ocean and the handover of the two Royal Navy Sandown class platforms to the Ukrainian Navy. This paper considers the preparation prior to decommissioning, support during the transfer of title and transition to new ownership and the sale support activities which take place in the longer term. Engineering aspects covered are: - The management and configuration of big data, specifically how this can be managed for a decommissioning platform to inform engineering decision making and identifying any sensitivities for future sales. - The scenario of a protracted period between decommissioning and future sale may result in the requirement for equipment removals to support the remaining platforms or the introduction of emergent technology entering the market. As these capability upgrades may be requested by future owners this paper also covers how to successfully integrate them within the available design margins to ensure supportability and maintainability targets are achieved. - With any aging legacy platform reaching a decommissioning date equipment obsolescence is likely to be a key challenge. How this is managed throughout this period is discussed. - Any disruption on maintenance activity during decommissioning will have a detrimental impact on equipment reliability. To ensure smooth transition the ongoing management of maintenance and logistics activities are reviewed. With a potential global market for decommissioned naval platforms, the activities listed above need to be tailored to meet the needs of the customer knowledge base, in-county supplier network and support philosophies compared with UK practice. In addition, there is likely to be differences in the stakeholder network, design authority responsibilities and toolsets. These topics are explored from a perspective of an industry participant being directly involved undertaking these engineering decommissioning and future sale support activities, together with the ongoing support for the new owner. The paper provides a balanced view from this lived experience throughout this route to transfer and beyond, highlighting the positive experiences alongside how the emergent challenges are overcome. It is hoped that the information provided by this paper will provide guidance for future stakeholders who will contribute to the decommissioning of future Royal Navy platforms.