A Royal Navy patrol boat has escorted a Spanish Navy vessel out of British Gibraltar Territorial Waters in the latest maritime encounter between the UK and Spain.

HMS Dagger, one of the Royal Navy’s fast patrol boats based in Gibraltar, shadowed the Spanish Navy’s SPS Isla de León as it departed the area earlier this week. The incident was captured by local aviation and maritime enthusiast Daniel Ferro, who shared an image of the two vessels on social media.

The Royal Navy’s Gibraltar Squadron routinely performs such escorts when Spanish state vessels enter or pass through what Britain considers its territorial waters. Officials in London have consistently described these actions as “measured and professional,” intended to assert UK sovereignty around the Rock.

Commissioned in 2022 alongside her sister ship HMS Cutlass, Dagger represents the Royal Navy’s upgraded capability for sovereignty patrols. The Cutlass-class vessels can exceed 40 knots and are equipped for maritime security and escort operations. The ship has previously monitored Spanish warships Infanta Cristina and Rayo during similar incidents in 2023 and 2024.

The Spanish Navy’s Isla de León, meanwhile, is a Rodman 101-class patrol boat belonging to the Maritime Action Force and based in Ceuta. One of four vessels in the Toralla class—alongside Toralla, Formentor, and Isla Pinto—it was transferred from the Galician Coastguard to the Navy in 2022 for coastal patrol and law enforcement support missions.

The UK government maintains that Gibraltar’s surrounding waters are sovereign British territory under international law. Spain disputes this interpretation, arguing that the waters form part of its own maritime jurisdiction. These encounters, though typically calm and professional, underscore the enduring territorial tensions between London and Madrid. Photo by Royal Navy, Wikimedia commons.