A Navy Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine arrives in Gibraltar on May 10, 2026. Such submarines are undetectable launch platforms for ballistic missiles, providing the U.S. with its most survivable leg of the nuclear triad. (U.S. Navy)
NAPLES, Italy — A Navy ballistic missile submarine arrived in a British territory along the Mediterranean Sea this week, an unusual glimpse of one of the service’s stealthiest vessels coinciding with increasingly tense Middle East peace negotiations.
The submarine arrived for a port visit to Gibraltar on Sunday, U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa/U.S. 6th Fleet said in a statement Monday. The Navy did not identify the submarine involved, but several ship watchers said it was USS Alaska.
Appearances of Navy submarines are rare and often designed to send a strategic deterrence message. One of 14 Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines, Alaska carries Trident missiles armed with nuclear warheads.
The vessel’s visit is a demonstration of U.S. capability, flexibility and commitment to NATO allies, NAVEUR-AF/6th Fleet said in the statement. The Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines offer the U.S. its “most survivable leg of the nuclear triad,” the Navy said.
In addition to submarine-launched ballistic missiles, the nation’s nuclear triad includes land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles and strategic bombers.
The presence of the submarine near a key maritime chokepoint in the western Mediterranean follows strained efforts to hammer out an agreement to end hostilities between the U.S. and Iran.
On Sunday, President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that he had read Iran’s response to a U.S. proposal to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. He called it “TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!”
Tehran’s multipage counteroffer included cessation of fighting and a gradual reopening of the strait as the U.S. lifts its blockade on Iranian ships and ports, among other points, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
Negotiations on Iran’s enriched uranium — a key sticking point for Trump, who has vowed that the country will never have a nuclear weapon — would ensue over the next 30 days, according to the report, which cited unidentified sources familiar with the matter.
Meanwhile, the United Kingdom is sending a destroyer to the Middle East, where it could join an international coalition to safeguard shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, the BBC reported Saturday.
USS Alaska in the waters near Gibraltar, as seen May 10, 2026. (Peter Ferrary/X)
The French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle transited the Suez Canal into the Middle East last week as part of the same effort.
The two countries will host a multinational meeting of defense ministers Tuesday focused on military plans to reopen the strait for commercial ships, the British news agency Firstpost reported Monday.
Global oil prices have spiked because of the war’s effect on supply. The associated risks have reduced traffic to a trickle in the strait, through which 20% of the world’s petroleum products usually flow.
Iranian minister Kazem Gharibabadi called the U.K.-France mission “a step towards further escalation,” adding that only Iran can ensure security in the strait, the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported Sunday.
Alaska’s recent appearance in Gibraltar is at least the second time in nearly five years that the submarine has visited the contested territory located on the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula bordering Spain.
The vessel made a similar port call in June 2021, the first such visit by a ballistic missile submarine in more than 20 years.
Its arrival that year coincided with a buildup of U.S., NATO and Russian warships in the Mediterranean as tensions in the region, including the Black Sea, escalated.
Days earlier, Russia had threatened to fire on participants in an annual NATO maritime exercise in the Black Sea if its territorial waters were violated.
That threat followed a heated dispute over the passage of a British destroyer through the Black Sea. Months later, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, provoking an ongoing war.
Alaska isn’t the only U.S. submarine to visit Gibraltar in recent years. The Virginia-class attack submarine USS Indiana made a port call in January 2025, and the Ohio-class guided missile submarine USS Georgia visited in April 2022.
