from
LÉ Aisling which was sent to search for survivors on 23 June 1985
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
TSS 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 (
CMS) 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. 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 (MTBs) 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. 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 1970-72 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, (1979), and (1980). 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, LÉ
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 . As replacements, in 1988 the government purchased two s from the
Royal Navy's Hong Kong Squadron, which were renamed and .
Into the 21st century The 50th anniversary of the Irish Naval Service took place in 1996, which included a fleet review by President
Mary Robinson. 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 2013 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 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.
"Manpower crisis" The decommissioning of three ships did not resolve the growing "manpower crisis" in the Naval Service, as in January 2023 LÉ
Róisín and LÉ
Niamh, one third of the fleet, were placed into operational reserve. Later that year, two additional ships, LÉ
James Joyce and LÉ
George Bernard Shaw, were also placed into reserve, leaving only two ships available for patrols. In July 2024, the Naval Service operated a "three-ship operational posture", with the four P60 class vessels on patrol in operational rotation (two operational and one standby), while the two P50 vessels were under refit or in reserve. In January 2025, due to only having one naval ordnance technician left, the LÉ
George Bernard Shaw had to go to sea with its main armament, OTO Melara 76mm, non-functional. The reduced operational capability of the Naval Service has meant that the number of patrol days has halved between 2020 and 2024 to 428 days. == Organisation ==