3 New Navy Vessels for Irish Naval Service

😁... Could we settle for modern enough ? They'do the job they were designed for ,and what's wanted ...

I don't think you could call p60s ultra modern ,

So the 9 ship navy will consist of 4 OPV'S 4 IPV'S and (probably) a fairly toothless MRV (AKA grey painted car ferry with a 20mm gun up front).Not a very impressive line up IMO. What about a frigate or two or a couple of corvettes so that we have something a bit more threatening to send Jonny Russian packing if he comes prowling around off the west coast? And for overseas operations?

2 Frigates, 1.4 billion yoyos. Good luck selling that one Jonny Irish.

These days a Corvette is just a Frigate with 10% less displacement anyway, because the old hull capacities to carry heavy naval guns are no longer relevant.

Of course it is, we won't be fighting any wars. Even with investment and expansion, the Navy's capabilities will be limited to being able to see and 'paint' air, surface and sub-surface contacts in Irish territory and areas of responsibility. Weaponry will be almost exclusively defensive.

If its a govt to govt deal, they will be left in place.

I think you screwed today

P61, Beckett, I believe.

It's a moot point anyway, it usually represents which ship carries the officer commanding the flotilla, on exercise or operation Eithne used to have accom for senior officers aboard, and a person holding Rank of Commander was i/c, instead of Lt Cdr for all other ships,but in effect, any of the current fleet can be flagship, as each have identical comms and accom.

Have you seen some of the Russian ships in the Black Sea recently, Land SAMs strapped to the deck…

Galway City would not be a good place for a base. The Docks are very small and don't afford the separate secure space needed for a naval station, let alone any quayside facilities. Even if they could avoid local property costs by placing support facilities at Renmore, it would be far less than ideal.

My choice would be Killybegs. Plenty of room, scope for whatever support facilities are needed and investment for the local economy from personnel and purchasing consumables.

Add it to a new station in Dun Laoghaire and its an excellent geographical spread.

The Main requirement for a Naval Port is access at all tides with LWS not less than 10m within the harbour for future flexibility. Galway is a lock in port and unsuitable for that reason. Shannon with preparation and construction has possibilities. Sligo with dredging and new piers has potential.

Killybegs has added two co-joined cruise piers with 12m alongside at a cost of 50 million. It is a possibility if not congested with liners and Oceanic sized FV's scrambling for space. Whatever the choices it will require a major construction undertaking. What we have we got for nothing, maybe it is time to put our own stamp on Defence. Our biggest problem is heading off official tendencies to consider Defence property and lands as a source of commercial exploitation. Our next problem is to ensure that COMBAT is listed as a mission/task requirement for the PDF and an incentive to acquire the means to do it.

I thought France is armed to the teeth

I'm not disagreeing with you, but the French were reasonably upfront in saying that they were keeping 3 of their boomers out at sea in the first couple of months of the Russian Invasion, I can only imagine what hell that might have caused their operational plans though.

But yes broadly speaking no nation, certainly not the EU nations can stand alone, but unfortunately that reality is a bit hard for politicians when procurement comes into play.

For us, certainly not being a giant hole with nothing really to offer would be a step up though.

Team of four from Naval Engineering Branch are on site at RNZN Naval Dockyard Devonport, Auckland to give the Lake Class ships a going over.

- INS Facebook.

If you read in Warships, there is a Q&A session with C-in-C of RNZN, where he refers to rebalancing his Fleet including freighting 2 Lake Class CP's to Ireland. He is also asked about the NZ Navy mission and he lists Combat as the Primary duty with all the other things any navy does.

We tend in our PDF to concentrate on the visual and some showboat tasks. It's the main reason that the Navy only go to sea, and the Air Corps Fly Logs Missions with snatches of maritime Patrol. Defence is a Combat Mission and Duty.

we often have taken direct action to stop capability. After the mishandling of Cliona which caused collateral damage on board ship, the answer was to demilitarise the ships as too dangerous, and bin ASW to Gun only. The aviation side got short shrift as did seaborne Air Search radar. We always had competence and somehow it disappeared nurtured by many high up the food chain.

The 2000 increase is to include minders in Civil Government. How Many??

An opinion of course but totally against experience where our west coast is the frontline and playground for subsurface and aerial patrols. We had the recent visit of Ex-Moskava in our waters. All defence Mission Statements must be similar if they are relevant to providing a positive response to an attack.

It is always poor us and everyone else is better at it. We do things in MALI and previously in Jadotville, we must be prepared to expand on that and do things better. Australia and NZ are arming up in all departments because of Chinese Mil. expansion. There is also major Indian Mil. hardware growth and one cannot be sure how they will be alliance wise. The Chinese have developed a containerised missile system that is to be fitted to all their merchant vessels to provide Naval support in time of war.

We need to be in some alliance, within the EU, and provide assets that are relevant in at least some critical dimensions -- select from ASW, ASM, MCM and AD. for naval capability.