A Royal Navy rapid reaction force is to set sail for Gibraltar on Monday as tensions over the Rock continue to rise.
Ten vessels including the aircraft carrier Illustrious, two frigates and support ships are heading to the waters off Gibraltar as part of an annual exercise.
But defence officials have revealed that three of them – the frigate Westminster and two support vessels – will call in at the British sovereign base at Gibraltar for three days, beginning on August 19.
In a show of force, the warships will practise ‘a range of operations’ including ‘deterring adversaries’.
Although diplomatic relations between Britain and Spain over Gibraltar have plunged into the deep freeze, the Ministry of Defence insisted that the mission, called Cougar ’13, is a long-planned exercise.
But senior government sources conceded that the timing is convenient since it will reassure the people of Gibraltar after Spain imposed draconian border checks in a dispute over fishing.
And while the deployment could have been delayed to avoid upsetting the Spanish government, it was not.
A Whitehall source said: ‘The timing is not unhelpful. We could have decided to call it off or divert it away from Gibraltar to avoid offending the Spanish. But there was absolutely no question of that.’
The deployment follows demands from the government of Gibraltar for the coalition to beef up its naval presence off the Rock, and calls for gunboat diplomacy from Tory MPs.
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