LÉ Aisling (P23)
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LÉ ''Aisling'' (; meaning " dream, vision"), now known as ''Al-Karama'', was a patrol vessel in the
Irish Naval Service The Naval Service ( ga, An tSeirbhís Chabhlaigh) is the maritime component of the Defence Forces of Ireland and is one of the three branches of the Irish Defence Forces. Its base is in Haulbowline, County Cork. Though preceded by earlier mar ...
from 1980 to 2016. She was built in Verolme Dockyard, Cork, Ireland in 1979 and originally named after
Patrick Pearse Patrick Henry Pearse (also known as Pádraig or Pádraic Pearse; ga, Pádraig Anraí Mac Piarais; 10 November 1879 – 3 May 1916) was an Irish teacher, barrister, poet, writer, nationalist, republican political activist and revolutionary who ...
's poem, "Aisling" to commemorate the centenary of his birth. During her career, ''Aisling'' participated in the ''Sonia'' and ''Marita Ann'' incidents, and was one of the first ships to arrive on the scene of the Air India Flight 182 disaster, and subsequently participated in recovery operations. She was the adopted ship of
Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...
, and officially decommissioned in her adopted city in June 2016. In March 2017, stripped of arms and armaments, she was sold to a Dutch broker, and in May 2018 a United Arab Emirates company sold her to
Khalifa Haftar Field Marshal Khalifa Belqasim Haftar ( ar, خليفة بلقاسم حفتر, Ḵalīfa Bilqāsim Ḥaftar; born 7 November 1943) is a Libyan-American politician, military officer, and the commander of the Tobruk-based Libyan National Army (LNA) ...
's internationally unrecognised
Libyan National Army The Libyan National Army (LNA; ar, الجيش الوطني الليبي, ''al-jaysh al-waṭaniyy al-Lībii'') is a component of Libya's military forces which were nominally a unified national force under the command of Field Marshal Khalifa Ha ...
, in violation of a UN
arms embargo An arms embargo is a restriction or a set of sanctions that applies either solely to weaponry or also to "dual-use technology." An arms embargo may serve one or more purposes: * to signal disapproval of the behavior of a certain actor * to maintain ...
. She was reportedly commissioned as the Libyan National Army's
flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...
and named ''Al-Karama'' (dignity).


Construction

There were three Emer Class offshore patrol vessels (Modified version of Deirdre Class) built for the Irish Naval Service; ''Aisling'' was the last, built at Verolme Dockyard in Cork. Offshore patrol vessels were designed to patrol the Irish EEZ. ''Aisling''s main weapon system is a Bofors 40mm Cannon capable of firing 240 2.5 kg shells a minute at a range of 1 km. Her secondary weapons system included two Rheinmetall 20mm Cannons capable of firing 1000 shells per minute at the range of 2 km.


Irish operational history


''Marita Ann'' incident

During September 1984, the vessel was involved in the arrest of the ''Marita Ann'' off the southwest coast of Ireland, which carried a cargo of arms and ammunition consigned to the IRA. LÉ ''Emer'', LÉ ''Aisling'' and LÉ ''Deirdre'' maintained some distance until the arms entered Irish territorial waters. The contraband had come from the United States, and crossed the Atlantic on a fishing trawler, the ''Valhalla''. She did not approach the Irish coast, but transferred her illicit cargo to the ''Marita Ann'' outside Irish waters. The intelligence services were aware of the plot, and ''Valhalla''s voyage had been monitored by international agencies, and the naval service had begun to lay a trap once the ''Marita Ann'' left Dingle. ''Aisling'' (Lt Cdr J.Robinson) and ''Emer'' left Haulbowline, with Gardaí onboard both vessels. ''Marita Ann''s course was plotted and by midnight it was 1,800 yards into territorial waters. Emer made a full-speed intercept and when half-a-mile off the target, called on her to stop. Such signals were ignored, and the vessel, which when illuminated by ''Emer''s searchlights was revealed as ''Marita Ann'', altered course. The ''Marita Ann'' could not outrun either vessel, and ''Aisling'' moved into a position to prevent a breakout. After four rounds of tracer had been put across her bows, ''Marita Ann'' gave up two miles inside the limit. The Naval Service/Garda boarding party met no resistance, and found five men and a large quantity of ammunition and arms on board. Two men,
Martin Ferris Martin Ferris (born 28 March 1952) is a former Irish Sinn Féin politician and former Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) Volunteer (Irish republican), volunteer who served as a Teachta Dála (TD) from 2002 to 2020. Early and personal life ...
and Gavin Mortimer were taken on board the ''Emer'', John P. Crawley (a United States citizen) and John McCarthy were transferred to the ''Aisling'', and Michael "Mike" Browne (aged 42) remained on the ''Marita Ann'', which was towed by ''Aisling''. The convoy, escorted by LE ''Deirdre'', made its way to Haulbowline,
Cobh Cobh ( ,), known from 1849 until 1920 as Queenstown, is a seaport town on the south coast of County Cork, Ireland. With a population of around 13,000 inhabitants, Cobh is on the south side of Great Island in Cork Harbour and home to Ireland's ...
, where a gathering of international media awaited its arrival.


''Sonia'' incident

In 1984 LÉ ''Aisling'' was involved an international incident with a 330-ton Spanish fishing trawler called ''Sonia'', based in the Basque port of
Ondarroa Ondarroa is a town and Municipalities of Spain, municipality located in the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Autonomous Community, northern Spain. Main sights *Church of St. Mary, ...
. ''Aisling'' came across ''Sonia'' illegally fishing in Irish waters south of the
Saltee Islands The Saltee Islands (Irish: ''Oileán an tSalainn''; Old Norse: ''Salt ey'' ) are a pair of small islands lying 5 kilometres off the southern coast of County Wexford in Ireland. The two islands are Great Saltee (89 hectares) and Little Saltee (37 ...
near
County Wexford County Wexford ( ga, Contae Loch Garman) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the Southern Region. Named after the town of Wexford, it was based on the historic Gaelic territory of Hy Kinsella (''Uí Ceinns ...
. ''Sonia'' quickly retrieved its gear before ''Aisling'' could send a boarding party. When ''Sonia'' got underway, she would have hit ''Aisling'' amidships had the patrol vessel's engines not been put full astern. As it was, ''Sonia'' missed ''Aisling'' by , a small margin given the weather conditions. According to the captain, the heavy trawler's hull would have sliced ''Aislings thin plating. The episode continued with ''Aisling'' giving chase and firing 600 warning shots. ''Sonia'' turned towards ''Aisling'' numerous times causing the latter to take evasive action. After five hours pursuing the ''Sonia'' the captain of the ''Aisling'' was ordered to break off as she approached British waters. When ''Aisling'' returned to its base in Haulbowline,
Cobh Cobh ( ,), known from 1849 until 1920 as Queenstown, is a seaport town on the south coast of County Cork, Ireland. With a population of around 13,000 inhabitants, Cobh is on the south side of Great Island in Cork Harbour and home to Ireland's ...
that evening, news was fed back that ''Sonia'' sank due to sea conditions and both a German freighter and a Sea King helicopter flying out of
RAF Brawdy RAF Brawdy is a former Royal Air Force satellite station located east of St Davids, Pembrokeshire and south west of Fishguard, Pembrokeshire, Wales. It was operational between 1944 and 1992 being used by both the Royal Air Force and the Royal N ...
had rescued the 13 crewmen. The Spaniards denied that any attempt had been made to ram ''Aisling'' and accused the Naval Service of causing their ship to sink by riddling it with gunfire. The Irish Government denied this, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Peter Barry, TD, reiterated this to the Spanish Minister for Foreign Affairs, who happened to be in
Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
negotiating Spain's entry to the
European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisb ...
.


Decommissioning from Irish service

Lieutenant Commander
Roberta O'Brien Roberta O'Brien is the highest ranking woman in the Irish navy and the first woman to captain her own ship, and then to achieve the rank of Commander. Biography Roberta O'Brien was born in the Glen of Aherlow in Tipperary c. 1977. She was edu ...
, the state's first female commander of a Naval Service ship, took command of LÉ ''Aisling'' in 2008. The vessel was officially decommissioned in its adopted city of Galway in June 2016. At the time of decommissioning, a proposal was made to potentially convert ''Aisling'' into a museum ship in Galway as a tourist attraction. However, while representatives of the Department of Defence advised that the proposal was "under consideration" as of December 2016, it was noted that the vessels of the type may be "unsuitable for conversion to use as museums or visitor attractions".


Sale and Libyan service

''Aisling'' was put up for a public auction on 23 March 2017 at the Carrigaline Hotel in County Cork, and was purchased by a Dutch broker for his clients for a reported price of €110,000, there being no other higher bids. As of 10 May 2017, the vessel was listed on a brokerage website with an asking price of $750,000 (€685,000), with the difference between sale price and asking price attracting attention from representative groups. In 2018 LÉ ''Aisling'' was commissioned, under the name ''Al Karama'', as the flagship of the Libyan National Army's Navy.


References


Sources

* MacGinty, Tom. (1995) ''The Irish Navy - A story of courage and tenacity'', 1st Irish Ed., Tralee: Kerryman; , Chapter 18. {{DEFAULTSORT:Aisling (P23) 1979 ships Former naval ships of the Republic of Ireland Deirdre-class offshore patrol vessels Ships built in Ireland