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  • Originally posted by Jetjock View Post
    Beyond a few sucess stories in the US and HMS Belfast on the Thames, such projects however well intentioned are rarely successful. An aircraft carrier she is not.
    Even carriers cant command sentiment http://www.newindianexpress.com/nati...ins-viraat-157

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    • Originally posted by danno View Post
      Even carriers cant command sentiment http://www.newindianexpress.com/nati...ins-viraat-157
      Indeed, sad to see the last of her kind go (still think the UK could have picked better options for keeping than Belfast) but she lasted a long time.

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      • At the rate things are going Belfast will be the only Irish built warship on view/surviving.

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        • Think the Times forgot one...
          The last Irish Naval Service ship to be built at Verolme Cork Dockyard is to go under the hammer at auction in Cork next month some nine months after it was decommissioned from service.

          The LÉ Aisling will be put up for auction at the Carrigaline Court Hotel on March 23rd where Cork auctioneer Dominic Daly will seek to obtain the best price for the State for the ship.

          One of four Irish Naval Services ships to be built at Verolme Cork Dockyard, the LÉ Aisling went into service in 1980 and was decommissioned last June after over 35 years of service.

          During that time, the LÉ Aisling was involved in some of the most dramatic episodes in the Naval Service’s history including the apprehension of the Marita Ann with guns for the IRA in 1984.

          Together with her sister ships, LÉ Emer and LÉ Deirdre, the LÉ Aisling, under the command of Lt Cdr Jim Robinson, shadowed the trawler Marita Ann as she left her home port of Dingle.

          The three ships kept a discreet distance as they watched the Marita Ann meet with the trawler Valhalla, which had brought a consignment of guns for the IRA from America.

          The Marita Ann ignored warnings from the LÉ Emer to stop after collecting an arms consignment outside Irish territorial waters but the trawler stopped after LÉ Aisling fired off a few tracer rounds.

          The Marita Ann gave up after the burst of gunfire and was boarded by gardaí and Naval Service personnel two miles inside the Irish territorial water limit where they found five men on board.
          Among these was future Sinn Féin TD, Martin Ferris who was arrested and subsequently jailed for ten years for his part in trying to smuggle seven tonnes of arms and ammunition into Ireland.
          Air India disaster

          A year later, the LÉ Aisling was one of the first ships to reach the scene of the Air India disaster off the Irish coast when all 329 passengers and crew on board the plane were killed in a bomb attack.

          The LÉ Aisling’s crew, under the command of Capt Jim Robinson, recovered 38 bodies littered among the wreckage of the aircraft, which was located 160km off the south-west coast.

          Capt Robinson, Petty Officer Muiris Mahon, Leading Seaman John McGrath and Able Seaman Terence Brown received Distinguished Service Medals for their role in the recovery of the bodies.

          Ten years later in 1995, the LÉ Aisling was involved in the prolonged search off the Donegal coast for the Greencastle based fishing vessel Carrickatine which disappeared with the loss of all six crew.

          And just a year later, in 1996, it assisted the Japanese tuna boat Taisei Maru after it lost five crew in a gas poisoning incident (386km) 240 miles off Galway and escorted the ship to Haulbowline in Cork Harbour.

          Galway links

          The LÉ Aisling, which has travelled 628,856 nautical miles, the equivalent of travelling around the world more than 32 times, has been twinned with Galway for over 20 years.

          Last year at its decommissioning ceremony in Galway, the city’s deputy mayor, Cllr Pearce Flannery suggested the ship could become a floating museum in Galway Harbour or off Salthill.

          Minister of State at the Dept of Defence, Paul Kehoe said: “The question of using the former LÉ Aisling as a visitor attraction in Galway City has been raised with me and is under consideration.

          “I am advised that given the age, size, structure and layout of Naval Service vessels that they are considered rather unsuitable for conversion to use as museums or visitor attractions.”

          Next month’s auction of the LÉ Aisling follows the sale of the LÉ Emer at auction in 2013 when it fetched €320,000 for the Exchequer when it was sold to a Nigerian businessman, Cyprian Imobhio.

          But in July 2014 the LÉ Emer was impounded by the Nigerian Navy because Mr Imobhio had failed to secure the necessary military approval before bringing the ship into Nigerian waters.

          On February 19th 2015 the LÉ Emer, which had been stripped of its armaments before being put up for sale, was commissioned into the Nigerian Navy as a training ship and renamed NNS Prosperity.

          Comment


          • Another article on the sale of Aisling:
            Three foreign navies are among those who have expressed an interest in acquiring the last Irish Naval Service ship to be built at Verolme Cork Dockyard, when it goes for auction later this month.

            Cork auctioneer, Dominic Daly confirmed that three navies from Africa and Asia have made inquiries about the LÉ Aisling, which was decommissioned from service last June, after 36 years patrolling Irish territorial waters.

            A Greek ship broker and an Irish yacht club are among the other parties to have expressed an interest in acquiring the 62 metre ship, which has over 600,000 nautical miles on the clock, with the yacht club looking at using it as a floating club house, said Mr Daly.

            “The LÉ Aisling was the last of three sister ships that was built at Verolme Cork Dockyard. She was built in 1980, but she’s in very good condition. She was particularly well cared for and is very clean and anyone who has inspected her at the Naval base at Haulbowline has been impressed.”
            No reserve

            Mr Daly said that no reserve price has been fixed on the LÉ Aisling. Her sister ship the LÉ Emer fetched €320,000 when she was bought by Nigerian businessman, Cyprian Imobhio, in 2013, and Mr Daly said he was confident that the LÉ Aisling would prove equally attractive at auction.

            The ship was notable for having twin diesel engines driving the single propeller to give a top speed of 17 knots, and with its armaments removed would make an ideal training vessel for another navy, as has happened with the LÉ Emer, which is now being used by the Nigerian Navy as NNS Prosperity.

            Mr Daly pointed out that the LÉ Aisling has 44 berths and has the capacity to stay at sea for up to a month, but with a fully equipped galley, would also make a fine clubhouse if purchased by the Irish yacht club, which he declined to name, and anchored at moorings.
            Think it would be nuts for a Yacht club to buy her, wonder which navies are looking at her?

            Comment


            • Originally posted by Sparky42 View Post
              Another article on the sale of Aisling:

              Think it would be nuts for a Yacht club to buy her
              Thats the problem with committees, people get to try out stupid ideas with money that's not their own.
              Everyone who's ever loved you was wrong.

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              • Originally posted by Sparky42 View Post
                Another article on the sale of Aisling:

                Think it would be nuts for a Yacht club to buy her, wonder which navies are looking at her?
                Not so sure - Down Cruising Club are using an old Lightship (the Petrel) as their Clubhouse - great facilities onboard - bar, showers etc. The great thing is that, being enthusiasts, they look after it and even maintain a small historical exhibition on board relating to it's past. Providing any club has done it's financial planning and understand what they are taking on I believe it's a much better end for a fine ship than to become some tin pot oligarchs plaything.
                “The nation that will insist on drawing a broad line of demarcation between the fighting man and the thinking man is liable to find its fighting done by fools and its thinking done by cowards.”
                ― Thucydides

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                • Here's the auctioneer’s photos of L.É. Aisling.

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                  • Aoife was transferred to Malta for €30k

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                    • Originally posted by DeV View Post
                      Aoife was transferred to Malta for €30k

                      http://www.defence.ie/WebSite.nsf/FOI_DL49
                      €290,000 loss to the taxpayers. Disgraceful. How many months was it kept in storage awaiting transfer and what was the cost of that. Typical Fine Gael.

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                      • Originally posted by ibenji View Post
                        €290,000 loss to the taxpayers. Disgraceful. How many months was it kept in storage awaiting transfer and what was the cost of that. Typical Fine Gael.
                        Take that one over to P.ie

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                        • Originally posted by ibenji View Post
                          €290,000 loss to the taxpayers. Disgraceful. How many months was it kept in storage awaiting transfer and what was the cost of that. Typical Fine Gael.
                          It's gone to a friendly nation, with close naval ties, will doubtless be used to help aid/ control the migrant crisis in the Med, and will continue in it's naval role, not as some rich-man's toy. What's not to like?
                          'He died who loved to live,' they'll say,
                          'Unselfishly so we might have today!'
                          Like hell! He fought because he had to fight;
                          He died that's all. It was his unlucky night.
                          http://www.salamanderoasis.org/poems...nnis/luck.html

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                          • Originally posted by ibenji View Post
                            €290,000 loss to the taxpayers. Disgraceful. How many months was it kept in storage awaiting transfer and what was the cost of that. Typical Fine Gael.
                            Seems like a better deal than todays sale.
                            Decommissioned LÉ Aisling sold for €110,000 at auction
                            The former Naval Service ship, LÉ Aisling, has been sold at a public auction in Cork for €110,000 after attracting just two bids.
                            For now, everything hangs on implementation of the CoDF report.

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                            • Originally posted by ibenji View Post
                              €290,000 loss to the taxpayers. Disgraceful. How many months was it kept in storage awaiting transfer and what was the cost of that. Typical Fine Gael.
                              Far be it from me to ever promote Fine Gael...or indeed any of the others....but that decision was the kind of once-in-a-blue-moon understanding that defending the national interest does not begin and end with "how much does that cost?" we need more of, not less.

                              Comment


                              • Originally posted by ibenji View Post
                                €290,000 loss to the taxpayers. Disgraceful. How many months was it kept in storage awaiting transfer and what was the cost of that. Typical Fine Gael.

                                If Carlsberg did bul..... ...................

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