LÉ Eithne, the former flagship of the Naval Service which was a helicopter patrol vessel (HPV) along with two coastal patrol vessels (CPV), reports The Irish Times, are to be sent abroad and broken up for recycled scrap, after plans to convert the HPV into a museum came to nothing.

The 1,920 displacement tonnes LÉ Eithne (P31) was the Naval Service’s largest vessel and the last to be constructed in Ireland at the Verolme Cork Dockyard (V.C.D.) was decommissioned last year at the same time as the smaller CPV 'Peacock' class pair LÉ Orla (P41) and LÉ Ciara (P42). 

The decommisioning of the patrol vessels was partly due to their age, coincidentally all built in 1984, in addition the vessels were taken out of service due to the ongoing crewing crisis that has impacted the service which has led to not enough sailors to crew all its ships. Two other vessels have since been tied up at the Naval Base on Haulbowline, Cork Harbour, leaving just two ships available for duty at any one time, LÉ Samuel Beckett (P61) and LÉ William Butler Yeats (P63), with one more in reserve of the remaining pair of OPV90/P60 class of offshore patrol vessels (OPV).

As for the fate of the decommissioned trio, there has been much speculation. In the former flagships’ homeport county, Cork County Council had expressed an interest in acquiring the 81m Eithne and converting the HPV into a floating maritime museum at a berth within Cork Harbour. Following this proposal, the Dublin Port Company approached the Department of Defence about the former naval vessel to be used for a similar purpose in the capital.

It is understood that the Philippine Navy had expressed a tentative interest in at least one of the vessels, but these inquiries went nowhere. As Afloat previously reported, this navy during the 1980's had also acquired vessels of the CPV 'Peacock' class from the UK Royal Navy which served in the Hong Kong Squadron.

According to a Department of Defence spokeswoman “a number of organisations” had expressed an interest in acquiring the Eithne as a museum piece or tourist attraction “but following, in some cases lengthy, discussions all these parties withdrew their interest in taking the ship”.

More from the newspaper here.