HMS Cutlass (P295): Gibraltar's Newest Patrol Boat Takes On a Russian Shadow Tanker

HMS Cutlass (P295)

A New Boat for an Old Post

HMS Cutlass was built by Marine Specialised Technology, arriving in Gibraltar in November 2021 after completing sea trials in Liverpool, a fast patrol boat capable of around 41 knots and purpose-built for sovereignty protection and coastal security duties around the Rock. She was formally handed over to the Royal Navy in March 2022 and officially commissioned with the Gibraltar Squadron on 4 May that year, one of two Cutlass-class vessels, alongside her sister HMS Dagger, brought in specifically to replace the older Scimitar-class patrol boats withdrawn from Gibraltar in 2020, keeping the Squadron's small but strategically vital fleet properly up to date.

Guarding British Waters

HMS Cutlass's core mission has always centred on protecting British sovereign territorial waters around Gibraltar, a role that carries genuine diplomatic sensitivity given the territory's long-disputed status, alongside general coastal security duties in one of the busiest and most strategically significant maritime chokepoints in the world. In May 2024, HMS Cutlass deployed to Portugal's Algarve coast for joint exercises with the Portuguese Navy, broadening her operational experience beyond Gibraltar's immediate waters and strengthening cooperation with a key regional NATO partner.

Supporting a Russian Tanker Seizure

In March 2026, HMS Cutlass took part in a genuinely notable operation, supporting French naval forces in an action against a sanctioned Russian tanker believed to be part of Russia's so-called shadow fleet, the network of vessels used to circumvent international sanctions on Russian oil exports following the invasion of Ukraine. Despite being by some distance the smallest vessel involved, HMS Cutlass's contribution to tracking and supporting the interception reflects just how central Gibraltar's strategic position at the mouth of the Mediterranean remains to modern naval operations, more than three centuries after Britain first took control of the Rock.

A Career Still Being Written

As one of the newest vessels to carry the name HMS Cutlass, this patrol boat's history remains, quite literally, a work in progress, but her opening years already suggest a genuinely active career for a small fast patrol boat: routine sovereignty patrols around Gibraltar, exercises with regional allies, and an unexpectedly prominent role in a live international sanctions enforcement operation, all packed into little more than her first four years of commissioned service.