Changes

[Goldie fish]

I see in the Irish Examiner, the Cork City Council had a civic reception for Cdre Frank Lynch who retires this month.
Unfortunately the article is not available online, but it detailed Cdre Lynch's career, including his command of a number of Naval Vessels, including L.E. Fola and L.E. Eithne, as well as being responsible for many of the changes to the Organisation of the Naval Service as advised by the Price Waterhouse review.
I'll try to get hold of the paper and add some details Later.

One waits to see if his successor is promoted to Commodore too. I notice the Air Corps still have not had a Replacement at Brig Gen level for Ralph James.
I think it's an open secret at this stage as to who the next FOCNS will be.

[hptmurphy]

Why hasn't a replacement been announced for Ralph James/

I'm sure there is candidate waiting in the wings as there is in the NS.

Would it be in line witha restructuring that might allow for the removal of two very senior ranks and even the reduction in the army of a brigade thus allowing a cull amongst those ranks.

Bear in mind nothing has been achieved by Croke park yet and all options are on the table including non replacement.

It wouldn't be beyond the possibilities that the Naval command structure could revert back to being headed up by a Captain.

Given the SNCOs such as The MAA, a warrant officers oppointment has been open for the last 12months along with some other similar positions, might not be filled with from the lines normally expected.

[Goldie fish]

To revert the FOCNS to Captain would be a backward step for the DF, removing a naval representative from the General Staff, and returning the NS to a wing of the Army again, to get the crumbs from the table when it came to finance for new equipment. If anything, the Brig Gen in the air Corps is becoming more difficult to justify, as they lose more and more of their operational capacity to other agencies. The case for merging their respective capabilities with Naval Service and Army is becoming stronger.
Indeed, in the UK there is a strong lobby seeking to take all Maritime Patrol responsibility from the RAF(given they were so happy to dispense with it, when their blessed fighters were at risk). And Similarly, Green helicopters seem to be better suited in an Army command structure than one tasked with protecting our skies. Even the toy fighters, the Pilatus, could fall into an Army Air wing role.

However the Naval service role will continue to grow, particularly with the growth of offshore wind and wave energy farms, and the increasing profitability of offshore Oil and Gas exploration, not to mention continued climatic changes.

[Goldie fish]

City Hall honours Navy Chief
By Sean O'Riordan

The most senior officer in the Navy believes the service is in good hands and will become more involved in protecting critical off-shore infastructure such as wind farms and wave energy machines.
Commodore Frank Lynch, flag officer commanding the Naval Service, made the comments last night as he was honoured in City Hall with a civic reception to mark his retirement after serving 42 years in the navy. Cdr Lynch, who was born in Co Galway in 1949 said he expected Ireland to create lots of off-shore energy sites in the years ahead which will be crucial to the country's economy and these would have to be protected.
"Any commander will tell you he never has enough ships. But with our new information systems and the quality of the personnel we have we will be able to continue to do the job", he said.
He added the navy's important position had been secured by the Government which put in orders for two new ships and axed the recruitment embargo on cadets.
"When I joined the Navy there were 200-300 in it. We have a whole series of successes since then and I have enjoyed a sense of fulfilment. I am happy to leave because there are great people coming behind me and the future of the service is secure," dr Lynch said.
He previously commanded the minesweeper L.E. Fola (1977-1979), the Patrol Vessel L.E. Emer (1982-1984) and the L.E. Eithne (1993-1995).
Since 1990 he worked part time in the persuit of reorganisation in the Naval service, culminating in a year of duties as head of the NS project team for the civilian consultants Price Waterhouse's review of the Naval Service.
From April 1997-May 1998 he served in Lebanon with UNIFIL as Camp Commandant in UNIFIL HQ. In 2006 he was honoured to be awarded the Argentinean Order of May to Naval Merit in the degree of Admiral Brown Grand Cross.

Irish Examiner 16/12/10

[knocker]

To revert the FOCNS to Captain would be a backward step for the DF, removing a naval representative from the General Staff, and returning the NS to a wing of the Army again, to get the crumbs from the table when it came to finance for new equipment. If anything, the Brig Gen in the air Corps is becoming more difficult to justify, as they lose more and more of their operational capacity to other agencies. The case for merging their respective capabilities with Naval Service and Army is becoming stronger.
Indeed, in the UK there is a strong lobby seeking to take all Maritime Patrol responsibility from the RAF(given they were so happy to dispense with it, when their blessed fighters were at risk). And Similarly, Green helicopters seem to be better suited in an Army command structure than one tasked with protecting our skies. Even the toy fighters, the Pilatus, could fall into an Army Air wing role.

However the Naval service role will continue to grow, particularly with the growth of offshore wind and wave energy farms, and the increasing profitability of offshore Oil and Gas exploration, not to mention continued climatic changes.

Fair one, after all its essentially an extension of the army - an air corps Just as the american air force started out in life as the army air corps. Maybe with more focus going on the naval service perhaps there will be a realistic review of the number of ships and types of ships required ?

[hptmurphy]

To revert the FOCNS to Captain would be a backward step for the DF, removing a naval representative from the General Staff, and returning the NS to a wing of the Army again, to get the crumbs from the table when it came to finance for new equipment.

Agreed, but then again if the army is downsized to a two brigade structure,There will be a knock effect.

By taking nearly 500 troops out of the country to Lebanon will offer possibilities of closing Bks.

The very positive side for the NS and Lebanon is it puts a blue/green ship very firmly back on the agenda.

The' heir apparent' would be very pro this outcome and possibly couldn't have come at a better time. Watch the design for the newbies to facilitate Containers.

Any back to topic, surprising how few ships Frank commanded although from my time he was very rarely seen as he spent most of his time in NHQ when it was based in Dublin.

[Goldie fish]

Stand Down Parade today for Cdre Lynch.
Photos on the Naval Photo sections Facebook page.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/p...9.221391530943
One commissioning today also.
Why only one?

[Alkers]

Stand Down Parade today for Cdre Lynch.
Photos on the Naval Photo sections Facebook page.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/p...9.221391530943
One commissioning today also.
Why only one?

As far as I know she couldn't attend her commissioning for personal reasons and the rest of her class went ahead of her.

[Goldie fish]

Thanks Alkers. What better day to get your bar and Sword than the day of the Flag's stand down.

[danno]

Stand Down

Interesting in that Cdre Lynchs career straddled virtually all ships used by NS since WW2.
In his valedictory address quoted in Irish Times today by Lorna Siggins he appears to suggest NS had a role in intercepting the drugs haul in Dunlough Bay.Ialways understood the scummies were caught due to bad luck/F up on their part and the RNLI were the lead unit collecting up the drugs.

[Goldie fish]

Semantics. The NS provided huge assistance in the successful prosecution of those who were washed ashore with the Dunlough Bay drugs. Their expertise allowed prosecution to trace the journey of the drugs to the mother vessel, which washed away any alibi the cuprits may have had.
Without that assistance, the culprits could have passed themselves off as tourists whose boat capsized just as a few tons of cocaine washed ashore in the tide.

Final interview with Cdre Lynch as FOCNS in An Cosantoir also.

[Goldie fish]

http://photos.examiner.ie/?Action=VF...&ppwd=85623mgp

I liked this

[DeV]

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...3.169367391165

It doesn't say if the newly appointed FOCNS will be promoted or not.

[Goldie fish]

He is.

[DeV]

Good stuff