HMS Sabre is a Scimitar-class

Scimitar class patrol vessel

The Scimitar class is a class of fast patrol boat in service with the British Royal Navy.The two vessels of this class are of a commercial design known as the Lifespan Patrol Vessel built by Halmatic , and formerly served in an inshore waterways anti-terrorist role in Northern Ireland...

 fast patrol boat

Patrol boat

A patrol boat is a relatively small naval vessel generally designed for coastal defense duties.There have been many designs for patrol boats. They may be operated by a nation's navy, coast guard, or police force, and may be intended for marine and/or estuarine or river environments...

 of the British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

. She was commissioned into the Gibraltar Squadron

Gibraltar Squadron

The Gibraltar Squadron is a unit of the British Royal Navy. It is the only resident sea-going Royal Naval unit in Gibraltar, attached to British Forces Gibraltar...

 on 31 January 2003 (along with her sister Scimitar

HMS Scimitar (P284)

HMS Scimitar is a Scimitar-class fast patrol boat of the British Royal Navy. She is a Lifespan Patrol Vessel type boat and formerly served in inland waterway duties in Northern Ireland as MV Grey Fox. She was acquired to serve with the Gibraltar Squadron, tasked with policing, customs and search...

), and is used for police, customs and rescue purposes. The two boats allowed the two s of the squadron, Trumpeter

HMS Trumpeter (P294)

HMS Trumpeter is an Archer-class P2000-type patrol and training vessel of the British Royal Navy. It was named in honour of the visit in 1901 of The All American Trumpeters to the UK....

 and Ranger

HMS Ranger (P293)

HMS Ranger is an Archer-class patrol and training vessel of the British Royal Navy, based in HMNB Portsmouth. She is affiliated to Sussex and Brighton Universities' University Royal Naval Unit , which has its offices at the University of Sussex, Brighton...

, to be reassigned to the Cyprus Squadron in April 2003 and April 2004 respectively.

MV Grey Wolf

The boat had previously been used in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

 since 1993 as MV Grey Wolf and was based in Lough Neagh

Lough Neagh

Lough Neagh, sometimes Loch Neagh, is a large freshwater lake in Northern Ireland. Its name comes .-Geography:With an area of , it is the largest lake in the British Isles and ranks among the forty largest lakes of Europe. Located twenty miles to the west of Belfast, it is approximately twenty...

, Northern Ireland where she was manned by Royal Marines

Royal Marines

The Corps of Her Majesty's Royal Marines, commonly just referred to as the Royal Marines , are the marine corps and amphibious infantry of the United Kingdom and, along with the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary, form the Naval Service...

.

April 2009 Incident

On Friday 10 April 2009 a vessel from Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

's Civil Guard Police force

Civil Guard (Spain)

The Civil Guard is the Spanish gendarmerie. It has foreign peace-keeping missions and maintains military status and is the equivalent of a federal military-status police force. As a police force, the Guardia Civil is comparable today to the French Gendarmerie, the Italian Carabinieri and the...

 entered Gibraltar territorial waters unannounced and approached the area near Gibraltar Airport

Gibraltar Airport

Gibraltar Airport or North Front Airport is the civilian airport that serves the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. It is owned by the Ministry of Defence for use by the Royal Air Force as RAF Gibraltar. Civilian operators use the airport; currently the only scheduled flights operate to the...

. HMS Sabre approached, and there was no response from the Spanish vessel. It was warned to leave the territorial waters

Territorial waters

Territorial waters, or a territorial sea, as defined by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is a belt of coastal waters extending at most from the baseline of a coastal state...

, and after consulting with its superiors it did so. However, accounts vary between the Royal Navy and the Spanish versions. The Royal Navy states that its guns were armed at the time, however the Spanish accounts state that the guns were specifically pointed at the Spanish vessel. In addition, Spanish MP Jose Ignacio Landaluce from the People's Party

People's Party (Spain)

The People's Party is a conservative political party in Spain.The People's Party was a re-foundation in 1989 of the People's Alliance , a party led and founded by Manuel Fraga Iribarne, a former Minister of Tourism during Francisco Franco's dictatorship...

 has vowed to take up the issue in Parliament

Cortes Generales

The Cortes Generales is the legislature of Spain. It is a bicameral parliament, composed of the Congress of Deputies and the Senate . The Cortes has power to enact any law and to amend the constitution...

. He said Spain "would not allow a Civil Guard vessel to be expelled from its own home".