UK: Royal Navy's commissions Cultlass class patrol vessel HMS Dagger in Gibraltar.

According to information published by the Royal Navy on July 15, 2022, the second of two new advanced £5m patrol ships charged with guarding the waters around Gibraltar has been formally commissioned into the Royal Navy fleet.
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Cutlass class patrol vessel HMS Dagger (Picture source: UK MoD)

A ceremony took place in Gibraltar Naval Base to welcome HMS Dagger as she joins sister ship HMS Cutlass on patrol in the waters around The Rock. Commander British Forces in Gibraltar, Commodore Tom Guy and Governor, Sir David Steel, attended the ceremony in the naval base.

Cutlass and Dagger are the permanent replacements for the now decommissioned HMS Sabre and Scimitar which safeguarded Gibraltar’s waters for nearly two decades.

P2000 patrol ships HMS Dasher and Pursuer have acted as the Royal Navy’s presence around Gib, joining the squadron’s Pacific 24 RIBS on patrol, but Cutlass and Dagger now takeover.

Built by Merseyside-based Marine Specialised Technology, the new boats are 19 metres long – slightly longer than Sabre and Scimitar, slightly shorter than Dasher and Pursuer – can hit speeds of 40 knots and are equipped with three machine guns and the latest electronic/optical equipment to assist in identifying potential threats.

The Gibraltar Squadron is a unit of the British Royal Navy. It is the only seagoing Royal Naval unit based in Gibraltar, attached to British Forces Gibraltar.

In 2020 its two 16 m (52 ft 6 in) patrol ships HMS Scimitar and HMS Sabre were replaced by two Archer class boats, HMS Pursuer and HMS Dasher. The squadron also uses three Pacific 24 rigid-hulled inflatable boats, crewed by a team of 26 people.