THE commander of a US nuclear submarine threatened to ram a Spanish customs vessel in British Gibraltar Territorial Waters
Once again Spain has nearly caused an international incident! This time our Roya Navy had to warn off Spanish Vessel with Flares.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/05/05/royal-navy-fires-warning-shots-as-spanish-vessel-harasses-us-sub/
Royal Navy fires warning
shots as Spanish vessel harasses US sub in Gibraltar
HMS Sabre and (inset) USS
Florida CREDIT: LA(PHOT)
STUART HILL/MOD/EPA
5 MAY
2016 • 12:14PM
The Royal Navy fired flares to warn off a Spanish
patrol boat approaching an American nuclear submarine off Gibraltar.
The fast patrol boat HMS Sabre fired warning shots
across the bow of a Guardia Civil vessel as it twice tried to cut across the
path of USS Florida during an incursion into Gibraltar’s waters.
USS Florida CREDIT: US
NAVY
Gibraltar says Spanish vessels regularly stray deep
into its territorial waters and the Foreign Office has attacked the incursions
as provocative.
But defence sources said it was rare for a Royal
Navy vessel to fire flares and it had only happened a couple of times in the
past two years.
A police boat patrols off
Gibraltar CREDIT: GEOFF
PUGH
One Naval source said: "It just got too close
and when it's a nuclear submarine, you get twitchy anyway. If you have
responsibility for the protection of it, then you are going to take action much
quicker than you might normally. The force protection measures worked and the
vessel went away."
Officials in the British overseas territory have
complained about the incident as USS Florida visited the British Naval base
last month, the Sun reported.
Gibraltarians
defiant over border rowPlay!02:40
Spain claims sovereignty over the strategic
outpost, which stands on the southernmost tip of the Iberian peninsula, but has
been a British Overseas Territory since the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713.
In recent years Madrid has warned it is ready to impose a new border
tax, close its airspace to planes using the British overseas territory's
airport, and investigate the affairs of Gibraltarians with Spanish economic
interests.
The row escalated in 2013 after Gibraltar began
building an artificial reef it said would improve fish stocks depleted by
incursions by Spanish fishermen.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence declined to
comment on nuclear submarine operations or force protection measures
Wake up UK! Wake up Governor! Wake up Gibraltar!
*************************************************************
Courtesy:
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/668135/Royal-Navy-unprecedented-actions-ordered-US-sub-stuck-Gibraltar-row?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
TRUTH behind the Gibraltar
row: How US submarine threatened Royal Navy to act on Spain
THE commander of a
US nuclear submarine threatened to ram a Spanish customs vessel trying to block
its path unless the Royal Navy vessel escorting it took action.
US NAVY•CROWN
The
US nuclear submarine threatened to ram a Spanish customs vessel trying to block
its path
Last week it
emerged that a Royal Navy patrol boat fired warning flares across the bow of
the Spanish vessel during the altercation just outside Gibraltar waters.
It has now been
revealed that the Royal Navy’s unprecedented actions were ordered by USS
Florida’s no-nonsense captain Nathan Martin who warned the Royal Navy to sort
the situation out or he would intervene.
It was the first of
two such actions by Spanish vessels that day.
The second, in
British waters, involved a Garda Civil police boat.
RELATED
ARTICLES
The US submarine
was making a routine visit to Gibraltar’s submarine base on April 16.
It had already
surfaced but was still in international waters when its path was intercepted by
a Spanish customs vessel.
Strict security
protocols, partly prompted by the successful Al Qaeda attack on the US
destroyer USS Cole in 2000, require the captain of any US warship to prevent
uninvited vessels from getting too close to their ship.
Despite being escorted
by the Royal Navy patrol boat HMS Sabre, the Spanish vessel crossed the
submarine’s path several times.
Captain Martin was
nearing the end of his 77-day operational tour on the submarine when the
altercation took place.
CROWN
A
Royal Navy patrol boat fired warning flares across the bow of the Spanish
vessel
GETTY
The
Royal Navy’s unprecedented actions were ordered by USS Florida’s captain Nathan
Martin
There is no question from the report that he would have rammed the
Spanish vessel
A senior Royal Navy source
Last night a senior
Royal Navy source with access to the “After Action” report about the incident,
sent to the First Sea Lord and senior operational commanders, said it was a
very difficult and tense situation.
The source said: “The
US commander was very concerned about his vessel and our officer was worried
about sparking an international incident, a wrong decision could end your
career in a situation like this and spark confrontation.
“The US has very
strict protocols about vessels getting close to their nuclear submarines, in a
very nononsense manner he made it clear he wanted things sorted or he would
resolve the incident, and all he could do was ram the boat.
“It was a very
tense situation. The Spanish had not responded to our transmissions on the
emergency channel to steer away and the US commander was not prepared to wait
any longer.
CROWN
A
senior Royal Navy source said it was a very difficult and tense situation
“He made it very
clear in his radio transmission that he wanted our people to act, or he would
sort the situation out himself and, while he remained polite, he was very
direct in conveying the message that he wasn’t prepared to allow the Spanish
vessel to continue harassing his boat.
“If our patrol boat
had not fired flares, there is no question from the report that he would have
rammed the Spanish vessel.”
Incredibly, Spanish
authorities failed to heed the lesson. Later another Spanish boat belonging to
the Garda Civil also harassed the submarine, this time in British waters.
No flares were
fired on this occasion.
Last night Admiral
Lord West, former First Sea Lord, said: “Nuclear submarines are very
unmanoeuvrable when they are on the surface, and it is very stupid for the
Spanish vessel to go in close like that. The Spanish clearly resent the
Americans using Gibraltar, but this is not the way for a fellow EU and Nato
member to behave.”
**************************************************************************************************************
The Sun newspaper states:
This is a very dangerous game for the Spanish to play and very unbecoming of a Nato ally to treat the US Navy with such contempt.
***************************************************************************************************************
We urge our Government to put the pressure on UK Government and the FCO and our Governor to protect our waters and to enforce a stronger security before we have a disaster!
Anne-Marie Struggles
