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Royal Navy warship HMS Westminster is due to dock in Gibraltar later, a day after Spanish fishermen protested off the British territory about a concrete reef put there by its government.
Its visit is part of a "long-planned" deployment of a number of vessels to the Mediterranean and the Gulf.
It will arrive at a sensitive moment for British-Spanish relations.
Spanish fishermen say the reef hampers their right to fish. Gibraltar says they should not be fishing there.
HMS Westminster, a Type 23 frigate, will be accompanied to Gibraltar by the Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships Lyme Bay and Mounts Bay.
They form part of a task force - called Cougar 13 - of four Royal Navy warships and six other vessels which set sail for the Mediterranean from Portsmouth and Plymouth last week.
The ships will dock at various ports in the Mediterranean en route to the Middle East, with one warship visiting the Spanish naval base at Rota near Cadiz.
The Ministry of Defence said Cougar 13 would see the ships carry out exercises with "a number of key allies".
The Royal Gibraltar Police said Sunday's protest by "about 38 Spanish fishing boats and seven or eight pleasure craft" lasted for about an hour.
Chief Inspector Castle Yates said that, when the boats crossed into Gibraltarian waters, police and the Royal Navy set up a cordon and "corralled" them.
"They tried to breach the cordon several times but they were not successful," he said.
The Spanish government has accused Gibraltar of creating the reef, which consists of 70 concrete blocks, "without the necessary authorisation" in "waters that are not theirs".
It has said that, in building the reef - which is located off the western runway of Gibraltar Airport - Gibraltar is contravening environmental laws and damaging Spain's fishing industry.
Spanish fishing nets are in danger of catching on the concrete reef blocks, it says.
But Britain has said it was trying to encourage sea-life to flourish.
In response, Spain has imposed tougher checks at the border in recent weeks, leading to lengthy delays. It said the checks were necessary to tackle tobacco smuggling.
Britain, meanwhile, has accused Spain of breaking EU free movement rules.
Spain disputes UK sovereignty over Gibraltar, a limestone outcrop near the southern tip of the Iberian peninsula, which has been ruled by Britain since 1713.
In recent years the dispute has taken the form of a clash over fishing rights. Both Spain and Gibraltar have claimed jurisdiction over the waters off the Rock, and both sides have complained about incursions into what they claim are their waters.
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