3 New Navy Vessels for Irish Naval Service

sparky42

Larbre34 wrote: »

Yes I agree, if we can get three Beckett class on the roster in rapid succession, the next natural step would be replacement of Eithne with an EPV ( I couldnt think of the colloquial term for a minute) with sealift and proper Heli-Ops facilities. (A Type-26 GCS Frigate or a Valour-class modified Meko would do nicely thanks!)

Those wouldn't really fit, Golden Fish talked about a 76mm armed Absalon class being looked at before the crash, the baseline would be handy enough and if we ever did actually take defence seriously then it could be fitted with Harpoons and ESSM. Neither of the two you've suggested are sealift ships with only limited on the Valour and suggested 70 or so for the 26, Absalon can lift about 200 with 55 vehicles, and has better flight capabilities.

And whatever about the Valour class, the 26 is going to be something like £400 million a unit (and carry a huge amount of capability that we aren't going to fund), that's a bit much even if there was a budget improvement, the basic fit of the Absalon is something like €250 million.

roundymac

This could make them make their minds up.
http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/navy-ships-locked-down-on-asbestos-fear-264285.html
Asbestos has been found on the Peacocks, LE ORLA & CIARA.

Oops, just saw Sparkys thread on this.

sparky42

roundymac wrote: »

This could make them make their minds up.
http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/navy-ships-locked-down-on-asbestos-fear-264285.html
Asbestos has been found on the Peacocks, LE ORLA & CIARA.

Oops, just saw Sparkys thread on this.

Don't worry about it, but really all that will do is mean the Navy spends X amount stripping them out (and Y amount in possible legal issues).

I'd bet at best the decision won't come until Beckett has had a few months of operation in service so they can see if they are happy with the design modifications. The yard gave good terms for the two from memory so they may be eager for another with the continued reduction in UK spending as well.

aindriu80

just noted. Ireland will have a 6 ship navy in 12 months. Should have built more ships.

sparky42

aindriu80 wrote: »

just noted. Ireland will have a 6 ship navy in 12 months. Should have built more ships.

7 ships, and you might have noticed that minor issue of the recession and before that a Minister for Defence/Government that really didn't give a feck about Defence. There's also the fact that the Yard was tied up in building components for the RN Carriers, then needed to re-certify for the steel work we wanted.

aindriu80

sparky42 wrote: »

7 ships, and you might have noticed that minor issue of the recession and before that a Minister for Defence/Government that really didn't give a feck about Defence. There's also the fact that the Yard was tied up in building components for the RN Carriers, then needed to re-certify for the steel work we wanted.

Well I read 6.

sparky42

aindriu80 wrote: »

Well I read 6.

Ethine, Orla, Ciara, Roisin, Niamh, Beckett and the Joyce. If the third option gets taken that would be back to 8, though admittedly the majority are overage.

roundymac

sparky42 wrote: »

Ethine, Orla, Ciara, Roisin, Niamh, Beckett and the Joyce. If the third option gets taken that would be back to 8, though admittedly the majority are overage.

Of that list the first three are: Eithne 30 years and Ciara and Orla 29 years old, don't know how patrol work the "Peacocks" do these days, they were got for inshore patrol's, mainly to police the salmon fishing.

mikeym

roundymac wrote: »

Of that list the first three are: Eithne 30 years and Ciara and Orla 29 years old, don't know how patrol work the "Peacocks" do these days, they were got for inshore patrol's, mainly to police the salmon fishing.

They dont do the salmon patrols anymore.

A lot of the work the ships carry out are conducted 100-200 miles away from land.

Fisherys and exercises would be the backbone of a patrol (dcff,gunnery)


Btw Any new pictures of Le Sam?

Larbre34

New angle of 'Sam' alongside. Credit Robert J Smith, shipspotting.com

http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=1976972

Wheelsonthebus

Due to the fact that Russia basically stole all of the Ukrainian Navy's ships, bar one- you'd have to imagine that they (Ukraine) would be in the market for LE Aoife when she comes up for sale.

They may be effectively bankrupt but it would be tempting enough if they could get her for between €200k-€300k as the others went for.

If not Ukraine, there would surely be some interest from the 3 Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania)

Larbre34

Wheelsonthebus wrote: »

Due to the fact that Russia basically stole all of the Ukrainian Navy's ships, bar one- you'd have to imagine that they (Ukraine) would be in the market for LE Aoife when she comes up for sale.

They may be effectively bankrupt but it would be tempting enough if they could get her for between €200k-€300k as the others went for.

If not Ukraine, there would surely be some interest from the 3 Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania)

Given that all the above mentioned countries are rather suddenly in the market for some proper deterrent warships, Id say LE Aoife wouldnt even feature in the 'surprise' column of their Christmas list.

Wheelsonthebus

Larbre34 wrote: »

Given that all the above mentioned countries are rather suddenly in the market for some proper deterrent warships, Id say LE Aoife wouldnt even feature in the 'surprise' column of their Christmas list.

I wouldn't agree with you. Yes Ukraine would be in the market for some proper deterrent warships but this would have to be a long term goal. Any ship would take years to be delivered. They are currently building one by themselves and it's not going to be delivered til 2016.

They've just had all of their Navy taken from them. They've lost all of the functionality that this Navy used to have. All of the previous day-to-day operations that this Navy performed are now not being done. A patrol vessel performs a lot of these functions.

Obviously they're not going to buy the LE Aoife to fight the Russians or as a detterent. They've gone from over a dozen warships to one. They have one patrol boat left. The priority now is to get some hulls back in the water and restore some functionality.

The Aoife would be a cheap short term solution and could enter service immediately.

Another point is that the Ukrainians are pretty much bankrupt, so investing in warships might be a long way off.

pilatus

The Ukrainians still have 10 vessel's they moved before Sevastopol was blockaded.

Larbre34

Looks ready to me, COME ON, just send her over already, the poncifying can be done at the Base!

sparky42

Larbre34 wrote: »

Looks ready to me, COME ON, just send her over already, the poncifying can be done at the Base!

snip

She looks great but ships only been out for a few days from what I saw on the tracker and has been back alongside since.

a/tel

Returning from Seatrials

Larbre34

Dear Irish Indo et al.

Steathy





Not Stealthy

sparky42

Be fair it's not like the Indo alone screws up everything related to defence matters, how many times has the BBC and UK's papers talked about Battleships for everything from Frigates to the Aircraft carriers. If it's grey and floats it's a battleship, and if it has something outside of historical photos then it must be stealthy as well.

The Beckett is out again today, hitting 21+ knots. I really wish we had a date for her being handed over!I want to be on the deep water when she comes in to Cobh.

aindriu80

Already posted but here are some more :

Larbre34

In a world of blanked off superstructures and integrated arrays, she does have some lovely lines. Nice job NS and Babcock Marine!

Beckett out on trials most days now apparently, currently tooling around at 10kts

Wheelsonthebus

New pictures from flickr user "Felicity Lennie"

https://flic.kr/p/ndce3A

https://flic.kr/p/ndah4t

https://flic.kr/p/ndahoM

And "James Lennie"

https://flic.kr/p/nd7e48
https://flic.kr/p/nb2QkZ
https://flic.kr/p/nd4R6K


Two fantastic pictures here from the same user

https://flic.kr/p/n9pXsK
https://flic.kr/p/n7i8YR

All rights belong to these flickr users

https://www.flickr.com/photos/78094365@N08/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/76809324@N07/

More photos of her on each of their profiles

aindriu80

Thursday 24th April 2014

Samuel Beckett to sail. Abis Bordeaux info.

le SAMUEL BECKETT will now sail on the PM tide on Monday next at approx. 1745 hrs. and this will likely be her final departure from APPLEDORE.

.

http://www.torridge.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=10113

Wheelsonthebus

Samuel Beckett being handed over to the Naval Service today.

http://www.itv.com/news/westcountry/update/2014-04-28/big-day-for-appledore-shipyard

http://www.northdevonjournal.co.uk/Navy-vessel-built-Appledore-Shipyard-handed-Irish/story-21023786-detail/story.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-27164975

Larbre34

So Sam is the next ship off the line after Enterprise. Good company indeed!

mikeym

Sam is heading to sea.


Shes on AIS.

https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/

roundymac

She's on the way.
http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/home

Larbre34

Nope, still tooling around the bay at Appledore at Midday today.

Wheelsonthebus

Pictures of her leaving port yesterday:

http://www.northdevongazette.co.uk/news/samuel_beckett_leaves_appledore_1_3577374?id=1&storyId=1.3577375.1398759523

http://www.northdevongazette.co.uk/news/pictures_crowds_line_quay_to_wave_off_warship_1_3577375

roundymac

Larbre34 wrote: »

Nope, still tooling around the bay at Appledore at Midday today.

Got that wrong, did'nt I:p