Navy Day?

[Goldie fish]

Some members of the Dail seem to be in favour of a day where we get the chance to cheer on the Naval Service.

Any thoughts on this? Seems like nothing but extra polishing and pointing for the crews to me.
SELECT COMMITTEE ON JUSTICE, EQUALITY, DEFENCE AND WOMEN'S RIGHTS
http://debates.oireachtas.ie/DDebate...&Ex=All&Page=1

Deputy Noel Treacy:
The country has benefited from the Volvo Ocean Race and we have an extremely important Naval Service. We made much investment in the Naval Service and the time has come for a national mobility day to celebrate the Naval Service every year. I ask the Minister to give special consideration to this. On such a day, ships could sail by different ports and locations each year, displaying to the nation and our people the capacity, work, improvement to and utilisation of the Naval Service, taking into account that we are an island nation with ten times more water than land under our territorial control. It is important that we make that statement on an annual basis. Just as we have a national day of commemoration for those who died in all wars, we should have a naval day, which would be good for the morale of the Naval Service and for our nation. I ask the Minister to consider this.


Deputy Noel Treacy: The Minister might consider a national sail day for the Naval Service. It would be worth looking at logistically from a national and international point of view.


Deputy Jimmy Deenihan: I support Deputy Treacy in that.


Deputy Willie O’Dea: I shall talk to my officials about the matter and will write to both Deputies.


Deputy Noel Treacy: We will allow the Minister a lead-in of a year for planning purposes.

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[golden rivet]

what will they think of next as about 200 wait to see will the budget affect the grat they have earned after years of service and have to go on their ticket as not to loose money as for a navy day this means loads of work for the crews as every vip would arrive for a freebie to be greeted by the crew all dressed up when they should be ashore doing what sailors do...

[ZULU]

when they should be ashore doing what sailors do...

Or offshore doing what the navy should be doing!

[pilatus]

I think its a great idea, anything that gets the navy publicity would be great for recruitment, morale, pride and sure it cant take that long to get a few of the ships ready.They could try to make the navy day coincide with the annual fleet excercies so that fewer days of duty doing the real work would be lost.

[hedgehog]

I think its a great idea, anything that gets the navy publicity would be great for recruitment, morale, pride and sure it cant take that long to get a few of the ships ready.They could try to make the navy day coincide with the annual fleet excercies so that fewer days of duty doing the real work would be lost.

I agree with the Sailors on this one

these morale building cosmetic exercises simply pile on more work on an already overworked organisation-

in reality the only ones who enjoy it are those who did feck all work in preperation for it-

the ordinary joly jck tar who has to give up his free time to prepare a vessel wont thank you.

I remember the many Ministers who came out overseas to build up our morale-

if you really want to do something positive for the troops/sailors

then take the budget for these morale building exercises and spend it on something positive for the lads

[golden rivet]

thanks HH you are on the same wavelength as my self .. as for the rest of the comments they have some valid points for someone looking in , but even the work for going alongside a port can be heavy and a naval vessel attracts a lot of people so it has to look well. the crew needs rest and some time off ..when people come onboard extra personell have to show them around and this eats into the short time they have off .. 4 week patrols.. are long enough now with 8 ships..

[paul g]

What about a fleet review, the one to mark the 50th was a great sucess.

[damo de muff diver]

people do like to get onboard the ships
L.E. Aoife had a queue waiting to get onboard for the 2 days she was in Dublin for the maritime festival but it is a lot of work for the crew in their down time
If they want to celebrate the Naval Service just give them the equipment they need & some shiny stuff.
All us sailiors love the shiny stuff

[hedgehog]

All us sailiors love the shiny stuff

Is that a euphanism

or did you mean to say SLimey instead of shiney

[spud68]

if its shiney we steal it ,if its slimey we shag it , simple really

[DeV]

That could be the day that the drug runners also decide to deliver. Do NS vessels not regularly put in around the country in order to replenish? escort fishing vessels in (in order to go to court)? bring rescued vessels in?

Having said that I presume they are rarely open to the public on these occasions

[hptmurphy]

escort fishing vessels in (in order to go to court)

No requirement anymore for this as a statement from the boarding officer is enough.

Open days are hard ship for crews and wear and tear on ships.

I agee there must be a certain degree of publicity but not at the expense of the crews rest time. Duty watches aren't big enough to cope with open days.


there is nothing mysterious about ships the theory is the same across the board. If a PV was to be parked up after decommissioning this would give the public a better insight to areas open days can't open up and would remove the need for ships to have open days when along side during patrol periods

[Goldie fish]

I remember speaking to a former spark who hated the open days, as usually every switch on the bridge would need to be replaced the day after. In the end they just started locking any indoor area.
Kind of takes away the whole point of opening ships to the public though. The Biannual open day in the naval base is one solution. But the Navy are located on an island, far away from civilisation....and only locals (most of whom are not interested) wouldn't bother making the trip.

The retired vessel, possibly with information provided by retired naval people that Murph mentions is an excellent idea though. Park it in one of the Basins in Dublins docklands that still has water in it, there are still plenty of exers in Dublin that would probably be only to happy to be nostalgic for the publics benefit. Bring it under the responsibility of the National Museum.

[yooklid]

The retired vessel, possibly with information provided by retired naval people that Murph mentions is an excellent idea though. Park it in one of the Basins in Dublins docklands that still has water in it, there are still plenty of exers in Dublin that would probably be only to happy to be nostalgic for the publics benefit. Bring it under the responsibility of the National Museum.

Had a similar experience with an ex RAN guy on an SSK in Sydney. The guy was a riot!

[damo de muff diver]

Is that a euphanism

or did you mean to say SLimey instead of shiney

No , I did mean to say SHINEY
Spud68 said it better than I ever could = Thank you Spud68

I would never make a eupanism as I don`t know what it is or where to get the parts