Irish Naval Service
The Naval Service is the maritime component of the Defence Forces of Ireland and is one of the three branches of the Irish Defence Forces. Its base is in Haulbowline, County Cork.
Though preceded by earlier maritime defence organisations, the Naval Service was formed in 1946. Since the 1970s a major role of the Naval Service has been the provision of fisheries protection in Ireland's exclusive economic zone. Other roles include sea patrol, surveillance, and smuggling prevention. Occasionally the service undertakes longer missions in support of other elements of the Defence Forces, Irish peacekeepers serving with the United Nations, or humanitarian and trade missions.
The Naval Service has an active establishment of 1,094 and a reserve establishment of 200. Like other components of the Defence Forces, the Naval Service has struggled to maintain strength and as of late 2024 had only 719 active personnel, and 77 reserve personnel.
The international ship prefix for Naval Service vessels is LÉ or Long Éireannach. Naval Service ships are traditionally named with mainly female names taken from Celtic mythology and Irish folklore. In 2014, the government controversially broke from tradition and decided to name the new P60 class ships after famous Irish writers, but in 2024, the traditional naming conventions was restored with the naming of the P70 class patrol vessels.
History
Coastal and Marine Service
The Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921, which created the Irish Free State, stipulated that it was to be given responsibility to police its customs and fishing, while control of its seas remained with the United Kingdom and its Royal Navy, who also retained the "Treaty Ports" of Cork, Berehaven and Lough Swilly.During the Irish Civil War, due to the lack of an established navy for the Irish Free State, the Royal Navy provided some support, patrolling and searching incoming ships to prevent gun-running to the Irish Republican Army. Actually backing the Free State in combat was considered, but never implemented, as British military intervention would have been politically-embarrassing for the new Irish government. Anti-Treaty IRA units occasionally fired on Royal Navy vessels, though these efforts were ineffective.
Several coastal landings were undertaken by the Irish National Army using commandeered civilian passenger ships such as the Arvonia and the SS Lady Wicklow. On 2 August 1922, the Lady Wicklow, commanded by Captain Patrick Ryan, landed 450 troops under the infamous Paddy Daly at Fenit, the port of Tralee. On 8 August, the Arvonia and Lady Wicklow were used to land over 1,000 troops at Youghal and Passage West liberating Cork unopposed two days later.
In May 1923, Major General Joseph Vize, a colleague of Michael Collins, established the Coastal and Marine Service with fourteen patrol vessels, each armed with a 12 pounder gun, and several other boats armed with machine guns. As the civil war concluded the same month, the vessels were soon disposed of, and the service was disbanded in March 1924.
Inter-war years
From 1924 to 1938, Ireland had very little interest in maritime affairs. Its only ship was the unarmed, which was operated by the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries to patrol Irish fisheries. By the late 1930s, the Free State began to pay a little more notice and the Muirchú was re-armed in 1936. She was joined in 1938 by the newly built steam trawler Fort Rannoch. Also in 1938, the Anglo-Irish Trade Agreement returned the Treaty Ports to Ireland, and the Royal Navy withdrew from Cork Harbour.The Emergency – Marine and Coastwatching Service
On the outbreak of World War Two in September 1939, referred to as The Emergency in Ireland, the government established the Marine and Coastwatching Service, later renamed the Marine Service in 1942. That May the government had ordered two motor torpedo boats from Vosper Thorneycroft. In order to present a more credible neutrality the government ordered an additional four boats later that year.In June 1940, one of the MTBs was involved in a serious breach of Irish neutrality, when the crew who were in Southampton to collect the boat decided to assist in evacuating Allied soldiers during the Dunkirk evacuation.
A naval reserve, the Maritime Inscription, was established with over 1,000 men in twelve companies to provide port security. The closed Royal Navy base at Haulbowline in Cork harbour was re-opened in 1940 to serve as the base for the Service. By 1941, the Service had about 300 all ranks, with the six MTBs joined by the Muirchú, Fort Rannock, the minelayer Shark, and sail training vessel Isaalt. During the Emergency, these ships served as Ireland's navy, regulating merchant ships, protecting fisheries, and laying mines in Cork and Waterford harbours.
Cold War – Naval Service
1946–1971
In September 1946, the Marine Service was incorporated into the Irish Defence Forces as the Naval Service. The first formal training of Irish Naval Cadets took place at the Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, UK in 1947. In June 1947, the Maritime Inscription was reorganised as An Slua Muirí. The government intended to purchase six corvettes for the fledgling navy, but ultimately only three s were purchased from the United Kingdom in 1946 and 1947. The tradition of naming Irish Naval Ships after figures in Celtic mythology was started, and the ships were named,, and. These three corvettes were Naval Service's only ships during the 1950s and 1960s with their main role being fishery protection. The corvettes were withdrawn from service between 1970-2 and scrapped soon afterwards. In 1971, the Naval Service acquired three s:, and.1971–1989
The 1970s was a time of expansion for the Naval Service as several locally built ships were added to the fleet. In 1971, the Naval Service commissioned Verolme Cork Dockyard to build an offshore patrol ship. Named, it was the first naval vessel purpose-built in Ireland to patrol its waters.Since independence, Ireland's territorial waters were limited to.
In 1964, her territorial waters were extended to increasing her maritime area to.
In 1976, Ireland's exclusive economic zone was extended out to, increasing her maritime area to. The increased maritime area required additional patrol vessels, and Ireland was granted funding from the European Economic Community to increase the Naval Service fleet. Between 1977 to 1982 inclusive, Ireland received IR£31 million from the EEC to purchase ships and aircraft for fishery protection.
LÉ Deirdre was the prototype for three further offshore patrol vessels built by Verolme, which were ,
, and .
In 1980, the government planned to acquire two helicopter carriers from Verolme. However, due to design delays the first ship was not ordered until April 1982 with delivery expected twenty four months later. entered service in December 1984, and two Dauphin helicopters were acquired to operate with her. In 1986, L.É. Eithne became the first Irish naval ship to cross the Atlantic. The closure of the Verolme dockyard in 1984 due to poor management and low worker productivity prevented the sister ship to Eithne being ordered.
Meanwhile, Isolda was acquired in 1977 from the Commissioners of Irish Lights. Renamed, she served as a training ship until 1984. A Danish stern trawler Helen Basse was leased for a year in 1977 as the. By the 1980s, the three minesweepers were showing their age and were withdrawn from service by 1987. As replacements, in 1988 the government purchased two s from the Royal Navy's Hong Kong Squadron, which were renamed and. The 50th anniversary of the Irish Naval Service took place in 1996, which included a fleet review by President Mary Robinson.
Into the 21st century
In the late 1990s, the government commissioned Appledore Shipbuilders to construct a new class of larger patrol vessels. In December 1999, was delivered to the Naval Service, followed in September 2001 by. LÉ Deirdre was decommissioned the same year. On 1 October 2005, An Slua Muirí was reorganised into the Naval Service Reserve.In 2010, Appledore was again commissioned to construct two new patrol vessels to VARD Marine's PV90 design. The new ships were 12m longer than the Róisín class patrol vessels, allowing for a longer deck area to accommodate unmanned submersibles, a diving chamber, or UAVs. In a very controversial decision, the government broke from tradition and decided to name the new ships after Irish writers. The first,, was delivered in April 2014 replacing the decommissioned LÉ Emer.
The second, arrived in September 2015 to replace the decommissioned LÉ Aoife.
The option for a third,, was exercised in June 2014 and commissioned in October 2016 to replace the LÉ Aisling.
A fourth,, was also ordered and entered service in October 2018.
While Naval Service ships typically operate in Irish waters, they have provided resupply missions to Irish peacekeepers in Lebanon, Cyprus, the Balkans, Eritrea and Liberia. In 2002, LÉ Niamh travelled to the far east in a trade mission, visiting India, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Korea, and Japan, resupplying Irish peacekeepers in Eritrea enroute. During the cruise, she became the first Irish naval ship to transit the Suez Canal and cross the Equator. In 2006, LÉ Eithne travelled to Argentina to attend commemorations of Irish-born Admiral William Brown, founder of the Argentine Navy, in the first-ever deployment of an Irish naval ship to the southern hemisphere. She also visited ports in Uruguay and Brazil, and brought back a statue of Brown which is erected on Sir John Rogerson's Quay, Dublin. In 2010, LÉ Niamh travelled to Latin America attend bicentenary independence celebrations in a trade and diplomatic mission. During her trip she visited Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Mexico and the United States, and became the first Irish naval ship to transit the Straits of Magellan and the Panama Canal, and the first to sail in the Pacific Ocean.
From 2015 to 2018, the Naval Service deployed a ship eleven times to the Mediterranean to provide humanitarian assistance because of the European migrant crisis, firstly in a bilateral agreement with Italy under Operation Pontus, and latterly with the European Union's Operation Sophia, rescuing over 18,000 illegal migrants.
Participation in Operation Sophia was controversial as it required approval by the so-called "triple lock" process.
The Naval Service's participation ended due to a shortage of operational ships as one third of fleet were in refit or maintenance, and there were insufficient numbers of technical and specialist personnel.
In March 2022, the government announced the purchase of two retired RNZN inshore patrol vessels. The government statement also announced the withdrawal of the LÉ Orla, LÉ Ciara and LÉ Eithne from service, which were later decommissioned in July. The loss of LÉ Eithne represented a serious degradation in the service's operational capability given she was the only ship that was capable of operating a helicopter and had onboard sonar capabilities.
The two new inshore patrol vessels, and, were commissioned into service in September 2024. Due to their small size, the two ships are intended to be used for fishery protection patrols in the Irish Sea, and based in an east coast base.