Gibraltar Squadron

Gibraltar Squadron
HMS Sabre, one of the Gibraltar Squadron's two patrol boats.
Active	1985 - Present
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	Royal Navy
Type	Squadron
Role	Maritime security
Size	Two Patrol Boats, 3 RHIBS & 22 personnel.
Garrison/HQ	PJOB Gibraltar/HQ British Forces Gibraltar
Website	Official website
Commanders
Current commander	Lt Cdr James Bradshaw

The Gibraltar Squadron is a unit of the British Royal Navy. It is the only resident seagoing Royal Naval unit in Gibraltar, attached to British Forces Gibraltar. In 2016 it consisted of two 16 m (52 ft 6 in) Patrol launches—HMS Scimitar and her sister ship HMS Sabre—and three Pacific 24 rigid-hulled inflatable boats, manned by a team of 22 people.

The unit was established on 28 August 1985 following the withdrawal of the RAF Marine Craft Unit No. 1022. The two motor launches attached to the previous unit, HMAFV Sunderland and Stirling, remained however and were subsequently renamed HM ships Hart and Cormorant respectively. Both vessels remained with the squadron until May 1991 when they were replaced by the new P2000 patrol boats HM Ships Ranger and Trumpeter. These in turn remained with the squadron until 2003.

Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, security arrangements for the squadron were enhanced and the unit received yet another new pair of patrol boats, HMS Sabre and HMS Scimitar, as well as three new RHIBs, in September 2002. In recent years, the unit has played host to nine URNU students each summer for a two-week acquaint, giving them experience of a front line unit. In August 2011 the unit moved into its new facilities in the Old Boathouse on the Gibraltar waterfront.

On several occasions vessels of the Spanish Navy and Civil Guard have entered Gibraltar territorial waters and boats of the squadron have been dispatched to intercept them. The issue of sovereignty over Gibraltar has been a matter of contention between the United Kingdom and Spain since the territory first became a British colony and latterly an overseas territory.