 Eithne during the BelfastTall Ships event in 2009. | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Ireland | |
| Name | LÉEithne |
| Namesake | Ethniu, a tragic heroine in an earlyIrish romantic tale |
| Builder | Verolme Dockyard, Cork |
| Laid down | 15 December 1982 |
| Launched | 19 December 1983 |
| Commissioned | 7 December 1984 |
| Decommissioned | 8 July 2022 |
| Homeport | Haulbowline Naval Base |
| Identification |
|
| Status | Decommissioned (to be scrapped) |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Offshore patrol vessel |
| Displacement | 1,920 tonnes (full load) |
| Length | 84.8 m (278 ft) overall |
| Beam | 12 m (39 ft) |
| Draught | 4.3 m (14 ft) |
| Speed | 37 km/h (20 kn) maximum |
| Complement | 86 (9 officers and 77 ratings) |
| Armament |
|
| Aviation facilities | helicopter flight deck |
LÉEithne (P31) is apatrol vessel which was previously in service with theIrish Naval Service. The ship is named afterEithne, atragic heroine and the daughter of the one-eyedFomorian King,Balor in an earlyIrish romantic tale.Eithne was theflagship of the Irish Naval Service.
Eithne was originally built as a Helicopter Patrol Vessel for long-rangefisheries patrol vessel, intended to be at sea for up to 30 days. She was the only ship in her class, as the other planned members of theEithne-class were never built.
Decommissioned in July 2022 after 38 years with the Irish Naval Service,Eithne has been laid up awaiting disposal since 2023.
Eithne was designed to carry aSA365F Dauphin helicopter,[1] and was the only ship in theIrish Naval Service fleet to have a flight deck. Helicopter operations were limited primarily to the vessel's early years of service.[2] These operations stopped in later years, due in part to the purchase ofCASA CN235-100MP PersuaderMaritime Patrol Aircraft and decommissioning of the Dauphin helicopters. The vessel was fitted with retractable fin stabilisers to reduce rolling during helicopter operations at sea. She was the only ship in her class, as the other planned members of theEithne-class were never built.[3]
Eithne was the last ship of the Irish Naval Service to have been built inIreland, constructed atVerolme Dockyard atRushbrooke,County Cork and completed in 1984. Shipbuilding operations ceased at the yard in 1984, and the yard went intoreceivership.[3]
In July 2005 LÉEithne represented Ireland at theInternational Fleet Review atPortsmouth,England.[4]
In April–June 2006Eithne travelled toBuenos Aires,Argentina, in the first-ever deployment of an Irish ship in the southern hemisphere, in order to participate in commemorations of the impendingsesquicentenary of the death ofAdmiral William Brown who had been born in Ireland. The ship brought back a statue of Brown for display in Dublin.[5]
In 2014, asbestos was found on the ship necessitating a clean-up.Eithne was the third Naval Service vessel found to contain the cancer-causing substance, after asbestos was also found on boardLÉ Ciara andLÉ Orla.[6]
In May 2015 Minister of DefenceSimon Coveney announced the deployment ofEithne to theMediterranean as part of the EU's ongoing rescue mission for migrants.[7] Together with other Naval Service vessels, between 2015 and 2017Eithne undertook a number of deployments in the Mediterranean, rescuing several hundred migrants as part of each mission.[8][9][10][11]
In late 2018, the navigation systems onboardEithne were upgraded to use a Warship Electronic Chart Display and Information System (WECDIS), reportedly making it the first vessel in the Naval Service fleet to "achieve paperless navigation".[12]
In mid-2019 LÉEithne, together withLÉ Orla, was "withdrawn from operations [..] indefinitely due to a lack of personnel".[13] The manner and messaging on the vessel's removal from service caused some controversy, as statements from theMinister of State at the Department of DefencePaul Kehoe (who suggested that the vessel was removed for "routine maintenance") contradicted previous statements made by Flag Officer Commander Mick Malone (who confirmed that the vessel would be tied-up "until adequate numbers of [..] personnel are available").[14]
In March 2020,Eithne was returned to active service and deployed toCork as part ofIreland's response to the coronavirus pandemic, alongsideNSR personnel andArmy engineers.[15][16]
In July 2022 LÉEithne, together withLÉ Ciara andLÉ Orla, was decommissioned, to be replaced with a new multi-role vessel.[17]
Following her decommissioning,Cork County Council requested the transfer ofEithne to the city for preservation as amuseum ship.[17] It was also reported, in early 2023, that theDublin Port company also hoped to use the vessel as a museum ship in Dublin.[18] However, as of late 2023, the vessel was reputedly due to be "broken up for recycled scrap, after plans to convert the HPV into a museum came to nothing".[19]
On 5 March 2024,Eithne was towed from her berth at Haulbowline naval base to Cork Dockyard, formerly Verolme Dockyard (where she was built), to joinCíara andOrla to await disposal.[20]
the use of the ship's design for French built 'Dauphine' helicopters were rarely used and took place early in the career of the 1,900 tonnes flagship
Emer class vessels [..] were followed by the larger P31 class Eithne in 1984; the only helicopter-capable ship in the Irish Naval Service to date. Plans for additional members of the class were never progressed and theVerolme yard closed for lack of orders after Eithne was completed
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