A Naval Service offshore patrol vessel (OPV) which was on a six-week deployment in the Mediterranean Sea to enforce a UN embargo on arms shipments to Libya has returned to Cork Harbour.

The deployment of L.É. William Butler Yeats in June was the first Naval Service ship to have taken place since 2018.

This latest overseas mission as part of EUNAVFOR MED Operation Irini was also to impose an embargo on the export of oil from the north African nation.

The offshore patrol vessel (OPV) was captained by Lieutenant Commander Alan Flynn and a crew of 57 which arrived yesterday to the Naval Base on Haulbowline.

The OPV was tasked with Information, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) operations as well as Rigid Hull Inflatable Boat (RHIB) Operations during the deployment. This is where the RHIB's assisted in the inspection of vessels off the Libyan coast and conducted secondary tasks such as the disruption of human smuggling and trafficking networks.

Several crew members were involved in previous deployments, including Operations Pontus and Sophia, however for the majority of the crew this was their first overseas deployment.

Awaiting at the Naval Base, families of the crew were greeted and welcomed home. On the occasion also at the base, the crew following their service abroad received Irish peacekeeping medals.

The Tánaiste and Minister for Defence Micheál Martin has claimed the navy has the capacity to staff three out of four ships but admitted the situation is “critical” in terms of recruitment and retention.

Mr. Martin's comments follows coverage by the Irish Examiner which reported a shortage of sailors had resulted in none of the Naval Service's fleet of a quartet of vessels, worth €280m, being able to go out on patrols.

Currently there is a critical shortage of able seamen and that the crewing crisis has left its four modern Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPV) the P60 class vessels all tied-up.

The vessels are class leadship LÉ Samuel Beckett, LÉ James Joyce, LÉ WB Yeats, and LÉ George Bernard Shaw which are berthed at the Naval Service base in Haulbowline in Cork harbour.

The Minister of Defence however insisted there was capacity to crew three ships and he added they are operational.

More on the story, here. 

As Afloat reported today, the Government is to deploy overseas off Libya in June and July this year the LE William Butler Yeats which has been identified as the vessel to be deployed as previously reported. 

This will involve the OPV P60 class vessel conduct maritime security as part of the EU Naval Force in the Mediterranean (EUNAVFOR MED) in operation “Irini”.

The deployment of the patrol vessel will reduce the fleet to just a trio of ships.