Spanish vessel ‘dangerous’ near British sub at Gibraltar

A Spanish Guardia Civil vessel is reported to have approached HMS Anson at close range as the Royal Navy submarine arrived at Gibraltar on 14 May, in an incident that a Gibraltar-based naval observer described as “reckless, unprofessional, dangerous”.

Images posted on social media show the Guardia Civil vessel moving at speed near the submarine, which was being escorted into harbour by tugs, with what appear to be Ministry of Defence Police boats also present in the security cordon. The observer said the vessel came within metres of the harbour wall.

Reckless, unprofessional, dangerous. The adjectives that describes how the Guardia Civil (top of the picture) attempts to breach the security perimeter of HMS Anson only metres away for the harbour wall and put at risk the lives of the sailors on the Defence Police this afternoon pic.twitter.com/Azr2zBId5Z

— David Parody 🇬🇮 (@dparody) May 14, 2026

The incident is the latest in a long-running pattern of friction between Spanish and British authorities in the waters around Gibraltar.

Judge for yourselves https://t.co/jfsw0fDH5I

— David Parody 🇬🇮 (@dparody) May 14, 2026

Spain does not recognise British sovereignty over the territory and its security forces have repeatedly been accused of provocative or unsafe behaviour in Gibraltarian waters, including incursions into what the Gibraltar government considers its territorial sea. The British and Gibraltar governments have lodged formal protests over such incidents on numerous occasions.

The arrival of a nuclear-powered attack submarine makes the alleged security breach particularly sensitive. Standard practice for the transit of submarines into and out of port involves a security perimeter maintained by escort and police vessels, and any unauthorised approach to that cordon during the movement of a nuclear-powered warship would be treated seriously by Royal Navy and MOD Police personnel.

The incident stands in contrast to the arrival earlier this month of a U.S. Navy Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine, which called at Gibraltar on 10 May. No similar approach by Spanish authorities was reported during that visit, and the port call passed without incident.

The presence of two submarines at Gibraltar within days of each other, one American and one British, shows very much the territory’s enduring strategic value as a staging point for naval operations in the Mediterranean and Atlantic.

Neither the Ministry of Defence nor the Gibraltar government had commented on the incident at the time of publication.