Displaying items by tag: Recruit Class 'Sweeney'

26th February 2016

Naval Service Recruit Class 'Sweeney' Passing Out

File photo of Naval Service recruits 'passing out'

#Recuits - The Naval Service Recruit Class 'Sweeney' commenced training in October 2015. A passing out parade today will mark the culmination of their training and successful entry into the Naval Service at the rank of Ordinary Seaman.

In total the 39 recruits are drawn from 14 different counties, 2 of whom are originally from the UK. They range in age from 18 to 27 and have completed numerous modules during their 5 months extensive training, including weapons training, foot drill, arms drill, navigational training, medical training and of course seamanship. Special awards will be given for Best Shot, Best Kit and Best Recruit.

The class is named 'Sweeney' after Ted Sweeney, the Irish Coast Guardsman and Blacksod lighthouse keeper who on June 3, 1944 delivered a weather forecast by telephone from Co Mayo’s most westerly point. The report convinced General Dwight D Eisenhower to delay the D-Day invasion for 24 hours, potentially averting a military disaster and changing the course of WW2. Classes are named in honour of significant people in maritime history. Ted Sweeney’s son Edward will be present on the day and a presentation will be made. Edward Sweeney will be accompanied by his wife Rita.

Recruit Class Sweeney raised €6,050 from a rowathon in aid of the Baby Lexie O’Riordan Foundation. Lexie O’Riordan & her parents Sylvia & Ed will be present on the day and the cheque will be presented. Members of the class were also involved as models for the Brave Men Walking charity event, in aid of the Irish Cancer Society and Breakthrough Cancer Research. They also participated in the Christmas fun run on the Naval Base in aid of Build for Life Cystic Fibrosis.

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About Conor O'Brien, Irish Circumnavigator

In 1923-25, Conor O'Brien became the first amateur skipper to circle the world south of the Great Capes. O'Brien's boat Saoirse was reputedly the first small boat (42-foot, 13 metres long) to sail around the world since Joshua Slocum completed his voyage in the 'Spray' during 1895 to 1898. It is a journey that O' Brien documented in his book Across Three Oceans. O'Brien's voyage began and ended at the Port of Foynes, County Limerick, Ireland, where he lived.

Saoirse, under O'Brien's command and with three crew, was the first yacht to circumnavigate the world by way of the three great capes: Cape Horn, Cape of Good Hope and Cape Leeuwin; and was the first boat flying the Irish tri-colour to enter many of the world's ports and harbours. He ran down his easting in the Roaring Forties and Furious Fifties between the years 1923 to 1925.

Up until O'Brien's circumnavigation, this route was the preserve of square-rigged grain ships taking part in the grain race from Australia to England via Cape Horn (also known as the clipper route).

At a Glance - Conor O'Brien's Circumnavigation

In June 1923, Limerick man Conor O’Brien set off on his yacht, the Saoirse — named after the then newly created Irish Free State — on the two-year voyage from Dun Laoghaire Harbour that was to make him the first Irish amateur to sail around the world.

June 1923 - Saoirse’s arrival in Madeira after her maiden passage out from Dublin Bay

2nd December 1924 - Saoirse crossed the longitude of Cape Horn

June 20th 1925 - O’Brien’s return to Dun Laoghaire Harbour