The naval vessel L.E. AOIFE has just completed her thirtieth year of service to the State and the Navy are marking the occasion next Friday the 4th of December with a reception onboard in the town of her birth, Cobh.
It is hoped that most of the original crew and all previous Captains will attend the reception beginning at 7:00pm.
Built in Rushbrook near Cobh in County Cork at the Verlome Shipyard, she became the sixth ship of the Naval Service fleet, joining three aging minesweepers from the UK Royal Navy and her sister ships, the L.E. DEIRDRE and L.E. EMER. 1979 was only six years after Ireland joined the European Economic Community (EEC, now the European Union) and Ireland’s fisheries protection responsibilities went from 12 miles off the coast to a 200 mile Exclusive Fisheries Limit and the Navy needed ships to patrol this huge area, estimated at about seven times the country’s land mass.
For more information see the Defence Forces Website.
Today she is part of a fleet of eight ships but now she makes up the older more experienced half of the flotilla. Over her 30 years AOIFE has been involved in some significant events. In 1985 she led the operation that found the flight recorder, the so called ‘black box’, from the Air India disaster off the South West Coast. In 2002 AOIFE was the search and rescue on-scene coordinator to provide assistance to the burning Canadian Submarine,HMCS CHICOUTIMI off the North West Coast enduring some harsh seas over a prolonged spell.
In 1997 L.E. AOIFE was adopted by Waterford City Council and the ship maintains close links to the city, the port and its people. The Children’s ward in Waterford Regional Hospital is the ship’s designated charity and the ship’s company make regular contributions from funds raised through different events.
In her lifetime L.E. AOIFE has steamed a total of 525,000 nautical miles. That’s more than to the moon and back or 23 times around the earth’s equator! Performing her main role, she has carried out almost 5,000 fishery boardings and has made 225 detentions resulting in €3.5m in fines.
Her current Captain, Lt Cdr Brian Dempsey says ‘Commanding a naval ship is the highlight of all naval officers’ careers and I am proud to command L.E.AOIFE. This anniversary allows me to acknowledge the significant contribution she has made to the protection Ireland’s maritime domain.”