Royal Navy Gibraltar Squadron has taken delivery of its second £5m patrol boat, HMS Dagger, from Marine Specialised Technology.
HMS Dagger has joined HMS Cutlass at HM Naval Base Gibraltar.
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In July 2020, MST received a six-year contract to build two fast patrol boats, HMS Cutlass and HMS Dagger for the Royal Navy Gibraltar Squadron.
Replacing HMS Sabre and Scimitar, Cutlass and Dagger will patrol British Gibraltar territorial waters, support British exercises and operations in the area.
Dagger is required to undertake a host of sea trials and safety checks before it can fly a White Ensign. The trials are expected to complete in mid of this year.
HMS Dagger commanding officer lieutenant Simon Holden said: “The arrival of HMS Dagger to the Royal Navy Gibraltar Squadron is the culmination of many months of hard work by our commercial partners, Ministry of Defence and the Royal Navy.
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By GlobalData“This is an incredibly proud moment for everyone involved in the project and as her first Commanding Officer I am looking forward to putting HMS Dagger through her paces and getting her operational as soon as possible.
“She is now going to conduct several sea trials prior to raising the White Ensign in mid-2022.”
Sabre and Scimitar have come back to the UK in 2020, and since then HMS Dasher and Pursuer have been serving around Gibraltar, joining the squadron’s Pacific 24 RIBs on patrols.
Cutlass was delivered in 2021 for trials before being declared as completely operational this spring (20 March-21 June).
Royal Navy Gibraltar Squadron undertakes maritime operations to boost security in British Gibraltar Territorial Waters.
The squadron offers force protection to visiting warships, submarines and auxiliary units besides their civilian counterparts in the Gibraltar Defence Police force.
Meanwhile, personnel from the UK military joined allies in the Indo-Pacific region to participate in the first of two exercises held off the coast of Malaysia.
RAF personnel, patrol ship HMS Tamar, and a Royal Marines boarding team are taking part in Exercise Bersama Shield, a two week-long multilateral exercise.
Exercise Bersama Shield and Exercise Suman Protector are held in support of the Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA), which was signed in 1971 between the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and Singapore.
FDPA is a security arrangement in Southeast Asia.
Exercise Suman Protector will be held by Singapore later this year.
