HMS Torbay makes return visit to the Rock

THE Nuclear submarine HMS Torbay arrived in Gibraltar on Monday – where it will be making a short stay and restocking – for its first visit since 2015.

Whilst Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo tweeted his personal welcome to the vessel  saying it was “home-away-from-home”, Spanish environmental group Verdemar-Ecologists in Action complained about the arrival of the nuclear submarine.

The group argues that no nuclear submarine is safe and therefore should not put in to Gibraltar as it is a potential threat to those living in the Bay of Algeciras. It will be remembered in Gibraltar however that Russian nuclear submarines were welcomed by the Spanish government to Ceuta in 2016.

In the meantime, the Governor of Gibraltar is to make a formal complaint to Madrid following an incursion into waters claimed by Gibraltar by Spanish Patrol Boat Centinela last Sunday before it was escorted back to Spanish waters by the Royal Navy.