An Cosantóir

18 | An Armed Naval Boarding Team in action A .5 Heavy Machine Gun firing from the LE Roisín Fire Fighters get ready PO/Mech Paddy Harte & L/ Mech Susan Grogan onboard the LE Roisín Being able to control activities in our waters requires three distinct capabilities: surveillance, to know who is using our waters; presence, to represent the authority of the state; and patrolling, to respond appropri- ately to any violation of laws, threats to national security, or emergencies. The NS is Ireland's primary asset in delivering these capabilities. In short, state ships are the means of projecting Ireland's presence at sea, albeit that our seagoing resourc- es are extremely modest. Notwithstanding Ireland's primary requirement to secure its sovereign rights, it must also meet obligations and maintain capabilities to further Irish and international policy objec- tives in the maritime domain. The NS currently delivers services to over 20 government agencies, NGOs, and other stakeholders. The Service is tasked with a broad range of defence, security and other roles. Routine patrols are multi- tasked, encompassing national and maritime security, ocean governance, safety and surveillance, port security, fishery protection, drug interdic- An Cosantóir September 2011 tion, pollution control, and search & rescue. The Service supports Army operations in the littoral (sea/shore overlap) and by sea-lift, and provides support on aid to the civil power/ authority operations. The Fisheries Monitoring Centre at the Naval Base is responsible for monitoring all fish- ing activity within Ireland's exclusive fishery limits and all Irish fishing ves- sels operating around the world. In addition, Naval Service vessels undertake supply and reconnais- sance missions to our troops serving with overseas peace support opera- tions and participate in foreign visits worldwide in support of Irish trade and diplomacy. It is vital that Naval Service person- nel are trained to the highest stan- dard to facilitate the delivery of such wide-ranging and important tasks. To this end continuous training is carried out both at sea and ashore. In addi- tion to individual ship's crew training a period of collective training is carried out every year as part of the Naval Service's annual exercise programme. This year seven ships participated in Exercise 'Quixotic', which took place off the south coast between 13 and 16 July. The aim of Quixotic was to train, test, and enhance fleet operational readiness, by exercising the ships as task units (two or more) and as a task group (all seven). The main objectives were: to exer- cise ships in multi-ship evolutions that they may be required to undertake in an operational situation; to practice multi-ship fleet-work and evolutions of high training value; to exercise and evaluate command, control and com- munications (C3) arrangements and procedures; to exercise personnel in contingency and emergency situa- tions; to exercise all ships' armaments in air- and surface roles; and to carry out enhanced surveillance of Ireland's maritime jurisdiction. The exercise was in two phases. Phase one involved multi-ship collec- tive evolutions/training, in areas of training that NS ships have little op- portunity to carry out at other times due to operational commitments. Substantial Air Corps and NS assets were incorporated in this phase. The second phase was scenario- driven and included exercises in

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