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Irish sea ferries are not designed for long trips,most are only classified for Near Continental waters....As far as I know the vessels used to carry vehicles out to Eritrea were Car carriers,though I am not sure if the same type went to Liberia.
Catch-22 says they have a right to do anything we can't stop them from doing.
Originally posted by Harry Would the NS have a need for vessel such as the Jonathan Swift for moving UN Troops and gear to missions rather than relying on foreign Naval assets.
I doubt the Swift has the range or space suitable for invading anything, but the Isle of Man. I think the number of high vehicles it can carry is also quite limited. At 50kt, shes fast, but I suspect is also expensive to run. You would need suitable dock space to unload, not just a quayside.
I suspect the larger ferries would be of more use, but again range and consumables might be an issue. I think it's the Isle of Inishmore that has a large open rear deck, that if suitable braced could operate a number of helicopters (it currently can only handle only one helicopter atop the cabin space).
I think the arrangment the RN / RFA has is it has a number of transports it either owns or has on long lease and when they are not needed they are let out on short leases, cutting the cost of ownership, while having a lot of deck space on shortish notice.
Potentially what we would like is something that could lift at least half of the RRF battalion equipment in one lift, but at the same time have some other use that would make it cheap enough to keep.
Separately there is the issue of having ammunition on commerical ships.
My point is Irish Ferries are unlikely to carry any substantial amount of ammo and any ship that does will need the safety equipment and insurance to do so.
From time to time Naval Service vessels have been used transport ammunition as they can flood their magazines if there is a fire.
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. Margaret Mead
Irish ferries ships often carry far more dangerous cargo on TEU laden trucks. The trucks carry HAZ plates and the associated paraphenalia...
I have often stated that the NS require a ship specifically for this purpose though.
Catch-22 says they have a right to do anything we can't stop them from doing.
No I meant the NS buying or long term leasing one of the vessels and giving them a funky new grey paint job, not keeping them in Irish Ferries' hands. Although looking at the Swift today on the news I doubt it would be of much use to the DF, looks like the only thing it could transport is a few Fiat Seicentos (don't take me literally on that)
Goldie, Iwas just looking through the DF strategy statement and something caught my eye, It mentioned increasing sealift capability I didn't know we had any to increase do you have any information on what their thinking about in term's of improved capability:confused:
Dr. Venture: Why is it every time I need to get somewhere, we get waylaid by jackassery?
The UK MOD recently took delivery of a number of RO-RO ships,or sort of, For Strategic Sealift.
Originally the Royal Fleet Auxiliary operated the Ro Ro Vessel Sea Crusader,but this was returned to her Parent Company after 7 Yeasr service.
The Current Arrangement allows A.W.S.R. Shipping Ltd (AWSR) to supply the Ministry of Defence (MoD) with a multi-million world-wide strategic transport service through a new Private Finance Initiative (PFI). The sealift service contract will be worth approximately £950 million, depending upon the amount of operational and private usage of the ships, and will run until December 2024,providing ships and crews,which can be used for commercial trading when not required by the MOD.
The company was established with the express purpose of bidding for the £950 million contract to construct and own six 20,000-tonne ro-ro vessels for service with the UK's Ministry of Defence (MoD).
Hurst Point
Catch-22 says they have a right to do anything we can't stop them from doing.
Recent naval moves in Europe are towards medium sized carriers and ships to move airpower and marines around for power projection.The only reason the Irish need a ship capable of delivering a unit overseas is for UN or EU missions and you wouldn't be conducting those missions alone.Someone else can take you along.No point in buying a big ship you'll rarely use when someone else will have one ready.A couple of tactical transports are faster and more adaptable.I'd be surprised if the Irish military ever deployed more than 700 troops overseas at once.Buy a couple of warships with big guns and lots of missles instead.They are more useful for patrol(which is the capability you want anyway) and you can blown stuff up with them.Thats the non-technical view on the situation.
One small question where the feck are you going to park these things? In Cobh?
We can hardly crew what we have.
The Emer(RUST BUCKET) is falling apart on a daily basis they haven't had stabalizers fully operational in 6 months and yet still go to sea in a dangerous condition, having a generator leave its mounting in rough weather to the SE in the middle of the night is a eyeopening experance let me tell you.
We need to get rid of this ship posthaste maybe replace it with a vessel of the types above.
On a lighter side the ERA's dont mind the Emer any more, so much stuff brecks every day that they just blame it on her age.
Emer is coming up for replacment any day now,and from what I have been hearing,a combination of PV/supply ship is being considered. The east wall of the basin has been dredged in anticipation of the future vessel,which is expected to be larger than any of the current fleet,some rumours saying up to twice the size of the more recent types( about 3500tonnes).
I am hoping the newer people here may be able to throw some more light on this subject.
L.E.Niamh being used as a car ferry.
Catch-22 says they have a right to do anything we can't stop them from doing.
Goldie, I've heard similar rumours for a while now, including from some well informed sources.
All kinds of other 'noise' in there as well like it being 'blue-green', or being like the Andrea Doria, and paid for out of other Depts funding aswell, the reserve having a greater role in its crewing, and so on.
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