Royal Navy Gib Squadron Welcomes HMS Cutlass
Royal Navy Gibraltar Squadron have announced the arrival of HMS Cutlass.
HMS Cutlass will be based in HM Naval Base Gibraltar and used to patrol British Gibraltar Territorial Waters, support British exercises and operations in the area and keep close watch over Gibraltar’s shores.
In the meantime, CUTLASS will be put through her paces whilst sailing under the Blue Ensign. A period of intense training for RNGS personnel under the direction of Merseyside-based Marine Specialised Technology, the company that built CUTLASS.
HMS Cutlass will be operating under the White Ensign once she has completed this period of training and trials.
The role of Royal Navy Gibraltar Squadron (RNGS) is to conduct maritime operations in order to provide security in British Gibraltar Territorial Waters to reassure the Gibraltarians and demonstrate UK sovereignty of Gibraltar. They also provide force protection to visiting warships, submarines and auxiliary units alongside their civilian counterparts in the Gibraltar Defence Police force. They perform this duty 365 days a year.
Although they are a small unit they are held at very high readiness and along with their core duties RNGS perform a broad array of tasks in a dense shipping environment around one of the world’s key maritime strategic chokepoints.
HMS Dagger is due to arrive in Spring 2022.
HMS Cutlass and HMS Dagger are armed with three General Purpose Machine Guns to provide self-defence and force protection of other maritime units and also have state of the art electronic optical equipment to assist in identifying potential threats.
