#NAVAL VISIT- Having visited Cork last month, The Royal Navy's River class offshore patrol vessel OPV HMS Mersey (P283) is currently moored in Dublin Port, the ship belongs to a trio of sisterships purchased in a £39m deal, writes Jehan Ashmore.

HMS Mersey along with OPV's Severn and Tyne have for nearly the last decade served the Fishery Protection Squadron while on 'loan' to the Royal Navy. They had operated on a rolling five-year term lease from the shipbuilder-owners, Vosper Thornycroft, now part of BAE Systems.

The lease was due to be renewed in 2013 but rather than face having to pay more to rent the trio of vessels for £7m a year, the UK government signed the contract to buy the ships outright, keeping them in service with the Royal Navy for the next ten years.

The Portsmouth based OPV's known as the 'Cod' squadron are hard-working vessels, where each vessel conducts fishery patrol duties for 275 days annually. In addition they are assigned to perform tasks such as maritime security, counter terrorism, tackling smuggling, fire-fighting and SAR missions.

#NAVAL VISIT- The Royal Navy's River class patrol vessel HMS Mersey (P283) is currently moored in Cork City, at the South Quay on the River Lee, having arrived yesterday, writes Jehan Ashmore

The vessel which has crew of 45, is employed on enforcing UK and EU fishery protection law while out on surveillance duties, which can be at least 275 days annually. Boarding parties are sent out from the ship to inspect fishing vessels to make sure they have the right nets, the right log books and the right licences.

The patrol vessel was built by Vosper Thornycroft in Southampton, and she can be also used for anything from fire-fighting to disaster relief operations.

#COBH TITANIC 100  - Following President Michael D. Higgins visit to Cobh to commemorate the centenary call of RMS Titanic to Queenstown, the town yesterday hosted a Naval Service review that included the Royal Navy's HMS Mersey.

The President as supreme commander of the Defence Forces boarded the Naval Service 'flagship' L.E. Eithne which passed the guest-ship, a River class patrol vessel which headed a line of vessels which lay at anchor of Cobh's waterfront, they were the L.E. Aoife, L.E. Aisling and L.E. Niamh

The historic event which marked the pinnacle of the Titanic 100 Cobh centenary week will continue as part of a year-round programme of events. For information visit www.titanic100.ie. On the homepage the L.E. Niamh features again, where on this occasion marine photographer Jehan Ashmore captured the vessel underway as she powered her way at high-speed through a misty Dalkey Sound.

Among the many places throughout Cobh where thousands of tourists have flocked since the Balmoral docked on Monday to retrace the liner's maiden voyage, has been the White Star Line pier.

From this pier were the last passengers to depart Queenstown on board the tenders PS Ireland and PS America to the ill-fated Titanic that struck an ice-berg. On her Irish call 123 passengers were transferred to the Titanic which lay outside Cork Harbour, while 7 passengers disembarked from the liner and headed ashore.

What remains of the pier which is not accessible to the public and is in danger of collapsing, there has been calls to raise funds to save the structure, as previously reported.

Also in attendance during yesterday's historic proceedings, was the excursion passenger tender Spirit if the Isles which is operating on her second season since starting Cork Harbour cruises last year. They run between Cork city quays and downriver along the Lee to Cobh.

In the 1980's the tender then named Ingot ran excursions from Dun Laoghaire Harbour into Dublin Bay and likewise of L.E. Niamh, she too transited Dalkey Sound as part of her sightseeing tours.

On the naval front, LE Emer was built in Cork's Verolme Dockyard in 1978. She represents the oldest of the eight-strong fleet and is designed from the Naval Service's first purpose built patrol vessel OPV LE Deirdre (P20) but was modified to improve her stability and speed. This vessel was decommissioned several years ago and was converted into a private yacht.

The original BOFORS 40mm L60 gun of the LE Emer was recently upgraded to a BOFORS 40mm L70 to improve range and accuracy of her main armament. She alongside her 65m sisters LE Aoife (P22) and LE Aisling (P23) where all built primarily to patrol the Irish section of the European Economic Zone (EEZ).

During their careers the 'Emer' class vessels have also completed numerous re-supply missions to Irish troops serving overseas with the United Nations and in particular in the Lebanon. A crew compliment of 46 (5 officers) operate the vessels which are all now in their fourth decade of service.

OPV HMS Severn is the third of four 'River' class offshore patrol vessels and like her Irish counterpart is deployed on fishery duties. The 1,677 displacement tonnes vessel was built in 2001 in the UK'S south coast port of Southampton at Woolston Docks. Her home port for the 30 crew is at HM Naval Base in neighbouring Portsmouth.

She becomes the fifth ship to bear the name and with sisters HMS Mersey (P 282) and HMS Tyne (P 281) they are assigned to the Fishery Protection Squadron. Click the ship's diary to follow the ship news. The final member of the River class HMS Clyde (P 257) serves as a Falklands Islands Patrol Vessel (FIPV).