Why Basing HMS Trent In Gibraltar Isn't Going to Stop Incursions

A recent news article by the Royal Navy stated that HMS Trent would be forward deployed to Gibraltar following on from HMS Medway’s deployment & the future deployment of vessels to the Asia-Pacific region. However, very quickly after the news article was published it was very quickly withdrawn. A statement was later released clarifying how the decision to base HMS Trent in Gibraltar has not yet been taken. The calls for her to be sent to Gibraltar have grown louder recently as the latest incursion by a Spanish vessel brought the total to 5 so far this year.

Currently, the Gibraltar squadron consists of HMS Sabre, HMS Scimitar & a RHIB. Which have been responding & challenging incursions HMS Trent, however, will not be joining the Gibraltar squadron or be responding to incursions. Fast patrol boats are far better suited to dealing with matters of this kind in the Bay of Gibraltar. By the time you untied an OPV & sailed it out chances are the incident would be over & having an OPV patrol the bay is quite frankly a waste of hull & not what the vessel is intended to do.

HMS Trent, when based out of Gibraltar, will be spending most of her time down the coast of West Africa & out in the Mediterranean, chances are it isn’t even going to be in Gibraltar for when the majority of the incursions occur. Take a look at what HMS Medway is doing in the Caribbean to get an idea of what Trent will be doing in her area of operations. Given the drug smuggling that goes on in the area, she would be spending time enforcing anti-smuggling operations & stemming the flow of narcotics into Europe. Chances are as well she could potentially be enforcing any possible UN mandates on areas such as Libya. Doing SAR work & training together with allies. In general, doing what an OPV should be doing & making good use of a valuable resource.

However the deployment of HMS Trent needs to be seen as a wider mission & not seen as a response to Spain & chances are that is why the Royal Navy article was removed, the FCO was probably not too happy about it given the current situation regarding the UK & Europe. If the decision to base Trent in Gibraltar is seen as a political move by Spain then it’s going to play havoc with wider UK foreign policy goals. The FCO & the Navy need to work together on that matter to make sure it’s need perceived as a political statement or in response to Spain as doing is going to cause some issues in the next few months. In an ideal situation the government, FCO & to some extent the MOD. Should ideally coordinate on the main objectives when it comes to a matter like this, that can influence the wider situation as one department going off in another direction can impact the wider goal, as the situation here shows.

However, this is not to say Gibraltar couldn’t do with some new & better-armed boats to replace the existing class of vessels. The tender for new vessels is still ongoing but anything other than fast patrol craft is unsuited to the role & waste of assets that are better suited elsewhere doing other roles. But due to the current objectives of UK foreign policy which is to secure a positive trading relationship with EU the best policy now is doing to nothing which could damage the objectives of the UK. To conclude I expect to see an increase in Spanish incursions this year as political momentum swings in favour of the Spanish government.