Name MV Grey Wolf Commissioned January 1993 Length 16 m Draft 1.2 m | Operator Royal Navy Out of service September 2002 Weight 24 tons | |
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Builder VT Halmatic, Southampton Homeport Lough Neagh, Northern Ireland | ||
HMS Sabre is a Scimitar-class fast patrol boat of the British Royal Navy. She was commissioned into the Gibraltar Squadron on 31 January 2003 along with her sister Scimitar, and is used for police, customs and rescue purposes. The two boats allowed the two Archer-class patrol vessel of the squadron, Trumpeter and Ranger, to be reassigned to the Cyprus Squadron in April 2003 and April 2004 respectively.
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MV Grey Wolf
The boat had previously been used in Northern Ireland since 1993 as MV Grey Wolf and was based in Lough Neagh, Northern Ireland where she was manned by Royal Marines.
April 2009 incident
On Friday 10 April 2009 a vessel from Spain's Civil Guard Police force entered Gibraltar territorial waters unannounced and approached the area near Gibraltar's airport. HMS Sabre approached, and there was no response from the Spanish vessel. It was warned to leave the territorial waters, and after consulting with its superiors it did so. However, accounts vary between the Royal Navy and the Spanish versions. The Royal Navy states that its guns were loaded at the time, however the Spanish accounts state that the guns were specifically pointed at the Spanish vessel. In addition, Spanish MP Jose Ignacio Landaluce from the People's Party vowed to take up the issue in parliament. He said Spain "would not allow a Civil Guard vessel to be expelled from its own home".
May 2016 incident
In May 2016 Spain's Civil Guard Police force vessel Rio Cedena twice tried to cut across the path of the submarine USS Florida in Gibraltar territorial waters. HMS Sabre fired warning flares to deter the Spanish vessel.