US submarine in Bay of Gibraltar crew transfer 

A US Navy Ohio-class guided missile nuclear-powered submarine entered the Bay of Gibraltar on Tuesday, where it carried out a crew transfer under protection from the Royal Navy’s Gibraltar Squadron and the Gibraltar Defence Police. 

The submarine sailed into the bay before heading back out into the Strait of Gibraltar after conducting its bay transfer. 

The vessel is the latest in a string of naval visits in recent weeks that puts a spotlight on Gibraltar’s role as a military staging post for the UK and its allies. 

Earlier this week, a Royal Navy ship that serves as a mothership for drones and underwater remotely operated vehicles sailed into Gibraltar. 

The RFA Proteus, a Multi-Role Ocean Surveillance Ship, is the first of a new generation of survey and surveillance ships harnessing leading-edge technology and dedicated to underwater monitoring in areas of UK sovereign interest. 

And in another development that impacts Gibraltar directly, the Royal Fleet Auxiliary landing ship RFA Lyme Bay, which recently sailed from Gibraltar on “heightened readiness” amid mounting tension in the Middle East, is to be fitted with minesweeping drones as UK ministers weigh their options for helping reopen the Strait of Hormuz. 

The plans will see the ship fitted with high-tech kit to enable it to act as a “mothership” for underwater drones and crewless mine-hunting boats, the Royal Navy said. 

It is understood that the refit is part of the Royal Navy’s plans to use autonomous minehunters to help clear the vital Strait of Hormuz, should such an operation become necessary. 

The refit will be done in Gibraltar, though the ship was still off Crete in the eastern Mediterranean earlier this week, according to AIS data from the ship tracking website Marine Traffic. 

In a separate development, a Russian Kilo-class diesel-electric submarine was seen sailing through the strait westbound into the Atlantic early on Tuesday.