The Diplomat
The British Royal Navy ship ‘HMS Penzance’ has arrived at the UK Naval Base in Gibraltar for a routine logistical visit, the British Armed Forces on the Rock said yesterday in a statement.
It is a Sandown class minehunter, which was commissioned by the Royal Navy in 1998, and is the fourth ship to be named after the coastal town of Penzance, in Cornwall, the note said.
The ‘HMS Penzance’, whose main function is to “neutralise underwater threats”, according to the note, which adds that, like all the ships of the Sandown class, it is most effective in deeper waters, so it can often be found guarding shipping lanes or clearing the way for military operations.
On the occasion of the minehunter’s arrival, the Gibraltar Port Authority posted on its Twitter account a warning of diving operations in the waters surrounding the southern part of the Rock to prevent access by vessels for much of today.
In recent months, several British naval vessels, including some nuclear-powered submarines, have called at the Gibraltar base.
Curiously, the presence of the ‘HMS Penzance’ at the Gibraltar naval base coincides with the arrival at the Cadiz base of the ship ‘HMS Lancaster’, also belonging to the Royal Navy. This is a ship that has been in Gibraltar on several occasions and it is not the first time that it has stopped in a Spanish port, on the occasion of its participation in naval exercises.
