The United Kingdom uses Gibraltar as a nuclear submarine base

It has been the norm since 2000 for nuclear submarines to dock at the Gibraltar naval base, usually for repairs. It is often carried out on a dock that is not prepared for this. It is not surprising that the continued arrival of these submarines in the Gulf of Algeciras would put Campo de Gibraltar “in nuclear danger”, even “all of Andalusia”, according to the Verdemar’s ecologists at work.

Last week he left Gibraltar Naval Base in HMS Bold, the last of more than 100 nuclear submarines welcomed since 2000, between the British and Americans. His stay was six days, during which the auxiliary engines were repaired. Environmentalists denounced, in statements to Europe Press, “the smoke was visible in the Gulf of Algeciras.”

“Most British submarine scales are about a week old, rarely two weeks,” says the journalist and security and defense expert. Luis Romero Bartomeu In the The Notebooks of GibraltarPublished by the University of Cadiz; While “the average number of days a North American submarine is on call does not amount to a week”.

“It makes more sense for British submarines to stop at the Gibraltar base than for American submarines. It sounds obvious, but let’s say there are no stops for British submarines brokenalthough, on the occasion of the Allied exercises, there were counterbalances to surface ships from Royal Navy In the Spanish rule mentioned above. // In the last two decades, the number of British submarine calls at Gibraltar has just exceeded sixty.”

There is no nuclear contingency plan

Verdemar-Ecologistas en Acción warns that Gibraltar “exposes Andalusia to a nuclear risk by maintaining the entry of submarines into the military base” and criticizes “that the military port of Gibraltar has become port X, where the UK takes its submarines for repair. And environmentalists assert that “this kind of work on nuclear submarines in Gibraltar threatens and endangers the inhabitants of the Strait of Gibraltar.”

However, despite the repeated warnings of environmentalists – who have vehemently denounced this situation – Spain still does not have a nuclear contingency plan for Campo de Gibraltar, which has already suffered in the 23 years since the establishment of Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullahfrom May 19, 2000, to May 7, 2021, for exactly 353 days, due to the failure of the primary cooling circuit of its nuclear reactor.

As it was, there it was Three appearances Mass protests against the use of the port of Gibraltar as a base for nuclear submarines. Thousands of people feared the risks involved in repairing this type of ship in a dock that was not – and is not – prepared for it.

But environmentalists don’t want a nuclear contingency plan, they want to “let go” “floating bombs”They also consider these submarines. They also criticize that “there is no official information about what kind of work is being done on these floating bombs, and in the best cases the order is sent from Gibraltar with the fact that the docking is caused by a supply interruption.”

The UK will not give up

The United Kingdom is not ready to stop using Gibraltar as a base for nuclear submarines. The reasons are different, according to Romero Bartomeu. Gibraltar offers you the opportunity to diversify your submarine repair and mooring sites, as well as supplies, in An area of ​​undeniable strategic importance It stretches across the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. In addition, a thousand miles from their areas of operation and useful training in the Alboran Sea are British submarines in Gibraltar, which, due to their excellent weather conditions, are traditionally used for their exercises.

Spain, knowing in advance, from the United Kingdom, all the arrival of a nuclear submarine in Gibraltar, tried a few years ago to divert submarines Toward Rota Naval Base. However, the British ignored the Spanish government’s claim.