3 New Navy Vessels for Irish Naval Service

I know we will have some say you cant do this but any surpuls at the end of the year should be forward spent on Base infastructure, Ammo or down paymemts on Future equipment such as ships,Aircraft, Apcs or even Trucks and jeeps as some of our local councils do

Any underspend is a failure of departmental accounting. When Defence got the increase, there should have been a clear plan for where the money was to go. unforeseen costs don't exist in public spending, so no such thing as "just in case" funds.

I presume any underspend would come from pay and pensions due to the continued reduction in staff numbers. If is gone its gone. Anything other than that requires greater scrutiny. Were capital contracts not fulfilled? As I see it everything in the equipment & building plan is on track. Its a huge property portfolio though and you can't expect to fix everything at once, there just isn't enough builders in the country.

I see the NS are observers in this initiative.....possible replacement for Roisin class some years down the line?

https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2023/10/launching-of-the-first-phase-of-the-european-patrol-corvette-project/

Worth noting the design being used relating to this project is not the EPC. Its merely a Corvette type produced by one of the member nations. They have not started on the design stage yet. Good chance it will look more like the latest italian PPAs.

It also doesn’t have much idea about what powers and capabilities the EU has in relation to defence which is limited at best.

But only in the new year, suppose at the rate we are going by then it won’t actually cost anything extra as there won’t be much patrols.

New MRV sourced

Eh I am being sarcastic but don't worry the level of clowns we have elected in this country there is good chance it will be suggested.

Make a sweet target all the same. Drain her fluids and contaminants and take her off the continental shelf, then let the engineers, the ARW demolitions boys, the Air Corps and the Navy have a jamboree on her until she sinks in deep water. Ready made reef!

Just been listening to an Australian media piece about the future of the AUKUS agreement and the acquisition by the RAN of 3, and ultimately 5 Virginia-Class Nuclear Powered Attack Submarines.

The cost, even over 18 years...

€225,500,000,000, at today's prices.

To be clear, that IS the Euro figure (AUS$ 368 Billion)

What we are dealing with in this Country, is chicken feed. Even if we went to LoA3 tomorrow, we wouldn't spend €60 Billion in 20+ years, at today's prices, and thats on EVERYTHING!

It's behind a paywall but in the times the are reporting one of the most important Irish Ships built is heading for the scrap yard by by Eithne

Eithne stopped being the largest ship the moment Samuel Beckett arrived.

Eithne was historic for the wrong reasons. The last ship built in the Irish state, was supposed to be the first of 2, but the government of the day, in the middle of a recession, having already funded the majority of Verolme Dockyard's output for many years before, was unwilling to continue supporting a dockyard that it's owners wanted to close. I was in primary school with the son of her OC Designate, and was kept up to date with plans for what she would be able to do, even back then. (Not much has changed in the 40 years since). I kept newspaper cuttings of defence forces news back then.

The fact some of it's workforce had gone on strike demanding pay far in excess of the average industrial wage of the day didn't help either. Her construction was delayed from keel laying, with equipment being installed the wrong way around to further delay the inevitable. On delivery, her twin Sea Rider Rigid hull inflatables were mounted high up atop the hangar, facing aft. Former crew tell that before launching, the boats had to be rotated on the cranes, a highly risky move almost 20 feet above the surface of the sea below. Over the years I worked with a few former Dockyard workers, and the "shenanigans" that went on during the build were a disgrace. When her keel was laid, the yard had a staff of about 1000, mostly local workers. Redundancies came in phases, as build milestones were passed, and appeals from local politicians to keep the yard open fell on deaf ears. Verolme's representative in Cork, Mr Van Der Puil, had a job to do, that was close the yard, and nothing would change that.

The day Eithne left Verolme for the last time, on her short delivery trip 1 mile downriver to Haulbowline, both her engines failed, and she had to be taken under tow. Her purpose as a helicopter patrol vessel also hit many snags, the most obvious being the absence of a helicopter. The Dauphins that were designed to operate with her arrived some years after Eithne entered service, and soon set to work doing VIP transport, Search and rescue, VIP Transport, Air Displays, VIP transport... anything but Navy Co-Op. The Cabins designated for Air Corps pilots and crew were never used by those they were intended for. The Dauphins were withdrawn from service in the early 2000s, and no naval capable helicopter replaced them. At some point her advanced sonar was removed, and her air defence radar, once used to monitor airspace on the shannon estuary during a VIP visit, became obsolete, and was never upgraded. As a Child in the 80s I visited her ops room, and there was a strict "no photos" policy. When I visited it again in 04 or 05, not only could you take all the photos you wanted, none of the sensor & comms equipment was still fitted. Around the same time her helideck was being modified to take armoured vehicles and stores to an overseas UN mission. CofG marks were made for parking APCs, and twistlock spots welded to the deck. No sooner was this work done, the trip was scrubbed.

During her service there was more than one tragic incident aboard, but I'd rather not discuss them, as I don't know the details, but if you google you'll find out more.

Later on in life she demonstrated again her usefulness during the operations in the med, rescuing those fleeing the various conflicts in Africa. If anything it demonstrated a concept in HADR promised by her proposed replacement, whenever that happens. She retained her unique to the NS Main armament, the Bofors 57mm, which was manually operated on a powered mount from within the fibreglass turret. Her secondary armament, the Rhine Metall RH202 was unique on delivery also, with the rest of the fleet using Oerlikon, and later GAMBO 20mm or 12.7mm HMG secondaries, until these were replaced with RH202 across the fleet. The time is up on this weapon also, and time will tell what replaces them.

Her final modifications came with mixed feelings. Her fibreglass Boarding boats were removed when their usefulness passed. Modern Caley davits, as found on the P50s were fitted with modern large sea riders port and starboard. An excellend enhancement, however one weakness was noted. The ship went from having 2 Boarding boats plus 2 Small sea riders, to having just 2 large sea riders, when the rest of the fleet had space for 3. 2 on caley davits, and a third mounted aft aligned P&S, at the end of an Effer crane. For the type of operations Eithne was involved in, the third Rhib was necessary, and the roof of the Hangar was no longer an option.

So a decision was made to bolt a large hydraulic crane on the front portside corner of the helideck, rendering it no longer useful as what its purpose was. A mobile rack could be attached to the deck which could carry either the standard RHIB in use, or a larger one for Navy Divers.

The final modification saw the permanent sealing of the honeycomb on the helideck, once used to secure visiting helicopters to the rolling deck while the crew made more permanent lashings. And so Naval Aviation in Ireland ended.

First Naval vessel to operate a helicopter, hopefully not the last.

First to visit the USA

First to Visit South America.

A vital asset in the search for wreckage of the Air India 747 that exploded off the SW coast after a Sikh terrorist bomb.

With her departure for the breakers, an interesting chapter in Irish Naval history closes.

I wonder what scared the Philippines navy off?

The cost of transport. They only wanted ours for parts, and both Panama and Suez are choked at present, so the cost of geting them there outweighs their usefulness.

That and the fact we did a lot of modernising of systems and equipment over the years that they don't share much any more with the Philippines Peacocks.

No they wouldn’t, they value their lives too much to put them into combat even if they could get them into the Black Sea.