Gibraltar Governor Wants More UK Naval Support

Gibraltar Governor Sir James Dutton has spoken out in support of the potential deployment of a larger British naval vessel to patrol Gibraltar’s territorial waters. 

Sir James, a retired Royal Marine with a distinguished military record, said the move would send a clear message to Spain amidst persistent incursions by Spanish state vessels.

Sir James said deployment of an offshore vessel would strengthen the Royal Navy’s ability to patrol British waters and stay at sea for longer periods of time.

While there is a push for the move, Sir James admits that it will take time to happen. He also said that nobody wants to resort to violence.

Spain has been attempting to gain support in the U.S. for its claims on the territory despite Gibraltar’s status under the 1713 Treat of Utrecht and two referenda in which Gibraltarians chose to keep the U.K. Flag in 1967 and 2002.

The United States has relied on Gibraltar’s military facilities a number of times including America’s first overseas military intervention in 1801 against the Barbary States, World War II and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization intervention in 2011 in Libya.

Speaking to the Sunday Express, former U.K. First Sea Lord, Admiral Lord West, said: “Strategically Gibraltar is very important. The Spaniards have been very difficult in the way they have dealt this issue, despite the Treaty of Utrecht which states it is British in perpetuity. Recently they’ve been causing a lot of trouble. A British warship that stops at a Spanish port cannot then go on to Gibraltar. The Americans have always been very keen to use it. It would help everybody if Spain just left Gibraltar alone.”