Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Displaying items by tag: Facelift

22nd January 2020

LÉ Róisín to Undergo €250,000 Facelift as Equipment Becomes 'Obsolete'

The view from the bridge of LÉ Róisín adds AFLOAT when the OPV80/P50 Class was offshore of Gibraltar, having been replaced on deployment by naval fleetmate LÉ James Joyce in the Mediterranean Sea during the 2016 European Migrant Crisis

The LÉ Róisín, reports TheJournal.ie, is to undergo a €250,000 facelift as Ireland’s Naval Service works to upgrade its fleet.

The Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) was built at Appledore Shipyards in the UK and entered service in 1999.

Since 2016, it has been involved in the rescue of migrants after being deployed to the Mediterranean in 2016 during the European Migrant Crisis.

At the time, the Naval Service vessel carried 60 crew under the command of the ship’s captain Lieutenant Commander Ultan Finegan.

Service life of an Irish Naval Service ship is determined by its level of operational activity - commonly 30 years, a Defence Forces spokesperson told TheJournal.ie which has more on the story here.

Published in Navy

Tagged under

Marine Wildlife Around Ireland One of the greatest memories of any day spent boating around the Irish coast is an encounter with marine wildlife. It's a thrill for young and old to witness seabirds, seals, dolphins and whales right there in their own habitat. As boaters fortunate enough to have experienced it will testify even spotting a distant dorsal fin can be the highlight of any day afloat. Was that a porpoise? Was it a whale? No matter how brief the glimpse it's a privilege to share the seas with Irish marine wildlife.

Thanks to the location of our beautiful little island, perched in the North Atlantic Ocean there appears to be no shortage of marine life to observe.

From whales to dolphins, seals, sharks and other ocean animals this page documents the most interesting accounts of marine wildlife around our shores. We're keen to receive your observations, your photos, links and youtube clips.

Boaters have a unique perspective and all those who go afloat, from inshore kayaking to offshore yacht racing that what they encounter can be of real value to specialist organisations such as the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) who compile a list of sightings and strandings. The IWDG knowledge base has increased over the past 21 years thanks in part at least to the observations of sailors, anglers, kayakers and boaters.

Thanks to the IWDG work we now know we share the seas with dozens of species who also call Ireland home. Here's the current list: Atlantic white-sided dolphin, beluga whale, blue whale, bottlenose dolphin, common dolphin, Cuvier's beaked whale, false killer whale, fin whale, Gervais' beaked whale, harbour porpoise, humpback whale, killer whale, minke whale, northern bottlenose whale, northern right whale, pilot whale, pygmy sperm whale, Risso's dolphin, sei whale, Sowerby's beaked whale, sperm whale, striped dolphin, True's beaked whale and white-beaked dolphin.

But as impressive as the species list is the IWDG believe there are still gaps in our knowledge. Next time you are out on the ocean waves keep a sharp look out!