The Royal Navy is not saving a penny by having closed HMS Malabar, says a retired Naval veteran.

And Bermuda should assign an organisation -- probably the Bermuda Regiment -- to assist the Navy ships which continue to visit the Island, Capt. Sir David Tibbits told The Royal Gazette .

Bermuda recently had five Royal Navy ship visits in the space of a month. They were HMS Montrose , HMS Southampton , HMS Brave , and HMS Torbay , which visited twice.

But since the 200-year Royal Navy presence in Bermuda ended with the closure of Malabar at the West End this year, most of the ships have berthed in Hamilton.

The nuclear-powered submarine Torbay shut her reactors down while in Bermuda and generators had to be brought to Dockyard to provide power to the sub, Mr.

Tim Southern of ship's agent John S. Darrell & Co. Ltd. confirmed.

Mr. Southern could not say how much the generators cost, nor how much the visits themselves cost the Royal Navy.

The Navy "will go and probably review these...visits and look at the costs and see how well they've been served and looked after and decide how it's going to be for the future,'' he said.

But Sir David -- a former vice-chairman of the Port Authority who along with former Malabar Commander Robin Bawtree and others led a quiet but high-level campaign to keep Malabar open - said ongoing visits are costing the Navy much more than the $1 million a year the Navy estimated the Base closure would save.

"It's quite clear from what's happened the last few months that the Navy still wants to use Bermuda,'' Sir David said.

Duties that used to be provided by Malabar included: Arranging for times of civil berthing and official calls by Government, logistic support like fuel, food, and other needs, and policing, transportation, and other support for sailors on liberty.

Government House was now a point of contact for the visiting ships. But sources said that because expenses of the Deputy Governor's Office were paid by Bermuda, and not the United Kingdom, Government House could not act for the Navy in the same way as an embassy or High Commission.

"Bermuda is quite different to other places in the world,'' Sir David said.

"Other places have visits which pop up every two or three years, whereas in Bermuda you can have visits once a week.'' Bermuda would continue to receive many visits as one of the UK's few dependent territories and one that was ideally located to serve Navy ships, he said.

"Bermuda could easily remedy the situation by setting up an organisation under the general control of the Regiment,'' Sir David said.