As UK and Spain tensions over Gibraltar mount, watch the moment the Royal Navy chases a Spanish warship out of British waters
THIS is the incredible moment a plucky Royal Navy patrol boat chased a much larger Spanish vessel out of Gibraltarian territorial waters today.
The face off between the heroic 'HMS Scimitar' and the Spanish 'Infanta Cristina' happened just hours after Spain told Britain to "calm down" as tensions over the Rock rose.
The Infanta Cristina patrol boat sailed past the eastern coast of Gibraltar well within the sovereign territory's waters at lunchtime.
The Sun's team in Gibraltar was alerted by a taxi driver as we chatted to locals on top of the rock about Spain's cheeky demands to regain the outpost.
Our team had a bird eye grandstand view as two Royal Navy ribs sped out to the Spanish boat and quickly sent it packing.
Taxi driver Giancarlo Milanta said:"This is provocation. They are trying to raise the stakes but the Royal Navy showed them who is boss."
A video of the incident was tweeted by the official account for the Gibraltar government, with the statement: "Illegal incursion into Territorial Waters by Spanish Navy patrol ship Infanta Cristina this afternoon."
The dramatic stand-off happened 48 hours after former Conservative leader Michael Howard implied that Prime Minister Theresa May would use military force if Spain attempted to reclaim the British territory.
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The dramatic picture of the Spanish patrol boat entering Gibraltarian waters was tweeted out by social media user David Parody who is a native of the British outpost.
Along with the picture, he wrote: “In true Spanish style, to calm down, they send us a gun boat!”
Speaking with the , Parody said the incident was the seventh incursion this year by a Spanish boat.
He likened the actions of the Spanish ships to “bullying” and said he hoped the dispute could be solved through “diplomacy” rather than military action.
Infanta Cristina - everything you need to know
The Infanta Cristina is a corvette of the ‘Descubierta-class’ and was commissioned in November 1980.
The imposing vessel is 291 feet long and can weight up to 1,482 tonnes when carrying a full load.
It can travel up to 29 mph (25 knots) and has a range of 4,000 nautical miles.
In terms of fire power, the patrol boat has eight harpoons, one 76mm gun, two 40mm guns and six anti-submarine torpedo tubes.
HMS Scimitar was at the centre of another diplomatic storm in 2009 when its sailors were accused of using a Spanish flag as target practice.
The British ambassador to Madrid was forced to apologise after it emerged that the seaman were shooting at a red and yellow flag which was attached to a buoy near Gibraltar’s coast.
But the Ministry of Defence insisted that the flag in question was not Spanish and was in fact a Nato maritime signal flag which has similar colours.
The Sun has launched a campaign demanding Spain and the EU take their hands off Our Rock.
HMS Scimitar - everything you need to know
HMS Scimitar is a speedy Royal Navy patrol boat which served in ‘inland waterway' duties in Northern Ireland before serving with the Gibraltar Squadron.
Its duties in the British territory include search and rescue, customs and policing.
The boat weighs 24 tonnes and is just over 52 feet long.
It can travel at a speed of 32 knots (37 mph) and has a range of 260 miles nautical miles.
Scimitar has two stern-mounted machine guns.
Our call comes as PM May fuelled concern by refusing to rule out talks with Madrid over Gibraltar’s future.
As tensions continue to mount over the 304-year-old British territory, loyal locals appealed for help.
Gibraltar’s First Minister Fabian Picardo said: “It’s great to have The Sun onside.”
He called on the Prime Minister to rule out giving Spain any say in the Rock’s future.
Picardo made his plea after May refused to shut the door on possible bilateral talks over Gibraltar during Brexit negotiations.
He said: “It’s time for the British government to rule out any bilateral veto for Spain and stand by Gibraltar.
“Otherwise Spain will be able to dictate terms to us and that will be totally unfair.”
This isn’t first time a Spanish ship has tried to bully its way into the British overseas territory.
Last April, a Spanish customs boat was nearly rammed by the commander of a US nuclear submarine after it tried to block the American ship’s path just outside Gibraltar waters.
The Royal Navy intervened, at the request of the US submarine, and fired several warning flares across the bow of the Spanish vessel.
But later that day another incident occurred when a US submarine was intercepted by a Spanish customs boat while it was visiting Gibraltar’s submarine base, reports the .
After crossing the sub’s path several times, the vessel was escorted out of trouble by Royal Navy patrol boat HMS Scimitar.
In November, a Royal Navy patrol vessel fired warning flare shots after spotting a Spanish research vessel performing “aggressive” manoeuvres off the Gibraltar coast.
The cat and mouse confrontation unfolded when the Spanish state vessel was seen in British waters, reportedly to carry out oceanographic work.
But the Angeles Alvariño refused to leave the area on Friday despite warnings from the British vessel, the HMS Sabre.
Instead, it reportedly dropped a sonar buoy about midday on Sunday – with three warning flares sent up by the navy in response.
The tense stand off eventually ended when the research vessel left the area.
And in 2015, a Spanish customs boat ‘fired shots’ in the direction of two fishermen off the coast of Gibraltar.
First Minister Picardo said the incident happened when the men were "well inside" British territorial waters, reports The Argus.
Picardo said the "illegal incursion" was an "extremely serious escalation" of "repeated Spanish violations of British-Gibraltar sovereignty".
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