An Cosantóir

www.military.ie the defence forces magazine | 17 ments and crew accommodation that was unmatched when they first hove into view in the lower harbour, arriving from Appledore Shipyard in the UK where they were built. It was also in Appledore that the patrol vessels LÉ William Butler Yeats, LÉ Samuel Beckett and LÉ James Joyce have been produced and a fourth Writer Class vessel is being cut from steel, welded into sections and as- sembled in the fabrication yards. Over the years the Service has been involved in many high- profile operations. In 1948, LÉ Cliona was dispatched to bring back WB Yeats' remains from France, where he had died in 1939, to rest "under bare Ben Bulben's head". When the Northern Ireland Troubles were at their height, the Naval Service was at the forefront of the interception of arms and munitions destined for the Provisional IRA. The death and destruction prevented by the foiling of these importations can- not be calculated. In March 1973 the MV Claudia was sailing from Cyprus to Helvick Head, having stopped off the coast of Tunis to embark a cargo of arms supplied by Libyan dictator Col Gadaffi, when it was stopped by LÉ Fola, LÉ Deirdre and LÉ Grainne. In September 1984 LÉ Emer and LÉ Aisling intercepted FV Marita Ann, preventing seven tons of explosives, arms and am- munition from reaching the horrendous conflict inflicted upon the people of Ireland. June 23rd 1985 will long be remembered for the terrible mass murder of 329 passengers and crew of Air India Flight 182, when a bomb on board caused the aircraft to disintegrate 9,400m above the coast of Cork. LÉ Aisling was tasked as on-scene commander in the area of the disaster and over the course of the operation in shark-infested waters four of the ship's company, Lt Cdr James Robinson, PO/Sea Muiris Mahon, L/Sea John McGrath and A/Sea Terry Browne, were awarded DSMs for their actions. Ireland's position on the west coast of Europe has made it an attractive destination for international and domestic drug smugglers. However, the Naval Service have been involved in huge successes in this area, such as Operation 'Seabight' in 2008 when an estimated €675 million worth of Colombian cocaine was seized from a 60-foot sloop, Dances with Waves, off the Cork coast. This was an international operation in which the maritime interdiction teams of LÉ Róisín and LÉ Niamh were the tip of the sword. In September 2014 a huge inter-agency operation saw LÉ Róisín and LÉ Niamh apprehending the yacht, Makayabella, at night in challenging conditions 250 miles off Mizzen Head. The trial judge described the €350 million haul as "colossal" and "mind boggling" when he sentenced the Makayabella's crew to 73 years in total. No review of the last 70 years could be written, however, without describing the deployment of Naval Service vessels in the Mediterranean. Wars, conflicts and difficult economic condi- tions that had erupted in many Middle Eastern and North African countries in 2013 and 2014 had displaced thousands of people and caused a migrant crisis as vast numbers of people sought refuge by crossing the sea to Europe. At the time Italy was dealing almost alone with huge numbers of migrants crossing from Libya in unseaworthy craft of all descriptions, and casualties among the migrants were increasing rapidly. LÉ Eithne was the first to depart for the Mediterranean to assist in May 2015 and she forged the trail that LÉ Niamh and LÉ Samuel Beckett followed over the course of the year. In 2016 Ireland yet again answered the call and dispatched LÉ Róisín in spring, followed by LÉ William Butler Yeats over the summer. Currently, LÉ Samuel Beckett is midway through its second deployment. These missions are complex and dangerous, not just the recov- ery of panicking persons from sinking craft but the traumatic task of recovering bodies from dark and cramped bilges. At the time of writing, 14,648 individuals have been rescued from the sea and, tragically, 72 bodies have also been recovered. Working in harsh conditions and witnessing suffering normally only associated with the most vicious of conflicts, these men and women of the Naval Service have completed all the tasks assigned to them and the manner in which they have performed their harrowing duties has been in keeping with the finest tradi- tions of the Service and of Óglaigh na hÉireann. Casting our eye back over the last 70 years, we see a ser- vice that has completed all the tasks assigned to it with the resources available, during whatever era you chose to look at, demonstrating that the Irish Naval Service is adaptable, capable and responsive. As we move forward into the uncharted waters of the future no-one knows what challenges our nation will face. We can, however, say a few things with certainty. The quiet profession- als of the Naval Service will tend their ships, they will 'slip and proceed' from Cobh, out past Roche's Point, and there, over the horizon, far from sight, they will carry out our nation's work: a physical expression of our sovereign state in the unforgiving waters of the North Atlantic. Lá breithe shona duit, tSeirbhís Chabhlaigh.

• Cover