Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Only just 6.5% of personnel account for women in the Naval Service but for the first time in its history, three of its ships - a third of the fleet - are being captained by female Lieutenant Commanders. As the…

According to The Irish Times, the Naval Service is operating with about a third of the required number of personnel needed to safely maintain its weapons. There are currently only three armourers, also known as armament artificers, in the Naval…

At the Department of Defence, reports The Irish Times, they were unhappy with how the military responded to media queries about two Naval Service ships being taken out of service, internal documents show. An announcement last June that the LÉ…

A Naval Service ship on Mediterranean rescue several years ago was unable to recover a migrant’s body that it had located in the water for several hours until it could confirm which EU state would accept it, a former mission…

Italian tallship Amerigo Vespucci, once described by US sailors as the most beautiful in the world, (on Monday) docked at Dublin Port. As The Irish Times reported, Amerigo Vespucci is a training vessel for Italian Navy cadets who sail for…

Relations between the Defence Forces and the Department of Defence have for decades been strained, with the former feeling ignored, unappreciated, or worse, writes The Irish Times. However, the state of relations between the military and civilian authorities is now at…

The Government may delay plans for a 200 million euro “multi-role” Naval Service ship, amid continuing controversy over crewing shortages for the existing fleet writes Lorna Siggins  A joint civil-military meeting is due to take place today at the direction of…

Divers of the Naval Service which form an elite unit in the force is operating at less than a quarter of its intended capacity as a result of the Defence Force’s retention crisis. Naval Service Diving Section according to The…

The European Commission has received no formal notification to date that Irish fishery protection has been affected by Naval Service crew shortages writes Lorna Siggins Three ships are currently tied up in port, and Paul Kehoe, Minister of State with special…

The political party Fianna Fáil has called on Minister for State for Defence Paul Kehoe to publish documents that would confirm his assertion that two Naval vessels as Afloat previously reported are docked for maintenance and not because the Naval…

Two of the State’s nine Naval Service fishery patrol vessels will remain tied up indefinitely, in spite of the 10.1 million euro annual package of military salary and allowance increases approved by Government yesterday writes Lorna Siggins. The Government package…

In an announced from the Government an action plan to deliver a €10 million package to restore pay to members of the Defence Forces. As RTE reports, the Government said the package will immediately improve the take-home pay of members…

It is expected that the Government will announce a new review of pay for up to 2,500 members of the Defence Forces with specialist or technical skills. The move, writes The Irish Times, will be in addition to the proposed…

A tie-up of two ships in port indefinitely is planned by the Naval Service due to a deepening manpower crisis. Of the three services in the Defence Forces, the naval service is suffering the most from a haemorrhage of personnel…

In the Irish Examiner's report today the number of sailors leaving the Naval Service paints a grim picture for the future of Ireland’s maritime armed service. More than 100 members of the service are likely to leave this year alone,…

An organisation which represents enlisted personnel in the Defence Forces says it's "very sceptical" about the Department of Defence's claim that it will address the accommodation crisis at Naval Service headquarters "as a matter of urgency". PDFORRA's president Mark Keane,…