LÉ ''Ciara'' (P42) was a in the

Irish Naval Service The Naval Service () is the maritime component of the Defence Forces (Ireland), Defence Forces of Republic of Ireland, Ireland and is one of the three branches of the Irish Defence Forces. Its base is in Haulbowline, County Cork. Though prece ...

. Like the rest of her class, she was originally designed for use by the

British Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

waters, and was delivered in 1984 by

Hall, Russell & Company Hall, Russell & Company, Limited was a shipbuilder based in Aberdeen, Scotland. History Brothers James and William Hall, Thomas Russell, a Glasgow engineer, and James Cardno Couper founded the company in 1864 to build steam engines and boile ...

as HMS ''Swallow'' (P242). The ship was passed to the Irish Naval Service in 1988 and was commissioned under her current name by the then

Taoiseach The Taoiseach (, ) is the head of government or prime minister of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the President of Ireland upon nomination by Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...

Charles Haughey Charles James Haughey (; 16 September 1925 – 13 June 2006) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who led four governments as Taoiseach: December 1979 to June 1981, March to December 1982, March 1987 to June 1989, and June 1989 to February 1992 ...

on 16 January 1989. She was decommissioned, together with her

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same Ship class, class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They o ...

, in 2022.

Royal Navy service

The ship was built as HMS ''Swallow'' with the yard number of 991 at the Aberdeen yard of Hall Russell. She was launched on 30 March 1984 and completed on 17 October 1984. In 1988 she was sold to Ireland and renamed LÉ ''Ciara''.

Etymology

In Irish service, the ship took her name from Saint Ciara, born in Tipperary in the 7th century who, after taking religious vows in her teens, founded a convent in Kilkeary, near

Nenagh Nenagh ( ; , or simply 'the Fair') is the county town of County Tipperary in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Nenagh used to be a market town, and the site of the East Munster Ormond Fair. Nenagh was the county town of the former county of Nort ...

. The ship's coat-of-arms depict three golden chalices which represent the three ancient

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...

s among which Tipperary was divided. Also featured is a

Celtic cross upright 0.75 , A Celtic cross symbol The Celtic cross is a form of ringed cross, a Christian cross featuring a nimbus or ring, that emerged in the British Isles and Western Europe in the Early Middle Ages. It became widespread through its u ...

as a representation of the North Cross at Ahenny, County Tipperary. The coat of arms incorporates the Tipperary colours of Blue and Yellow as well as the background or field colours of the Tipperary Arms which is Ermine - white with a pattern of black arrowhead shaped points.

Weapons and equipment

The ship's principal armament is an

OTO Melara 76 mm The OTO Melara 76 mm gun, marketed as the OTO 76/62 Gun Mount, is a naval autocannon built and designed by the Italian Defense contractor, defence company OTO Melara. It is based on the OTO Melara 76/62C and evolved toward 76/62 SR and 76/ ...

Compact gun. This has a range and can fire 85 rounds per minute. It can be used in both anti-aircraft and anti-ship roles. It holds an 80-round magazine that can easily be reloaded by a two-man team. There are also two single 20 mm Rh202 Rheinmetall cannons and two 12.7 mm machine guns. She is equipped with surveillance equipment and a fishery protection information system which is regularly updated via a satellite link to the

base at

Haulbowline Island Haulbowline (; ) is an island in Cork Harbour off the coast of Ireland. The world's first yacht club was founded on Haulbowline in 1720. The western side of the island is the main naval base and headquarters for the Irish Naval Service, with t ...

near

Cobh Cobh ( ,), known from 1849 until 1920 as Queenstown, is a seaport town on the south coast of County Cork, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. With a population of 14,148 inhabitants at the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census, Cobh is on the south si ...

. ''Ciara'' has a cruising speed of and a sprint speed of , making her the fastest ship in the Irish Navy; the crew have nicknamed her "Road Runner" after the speedy cartoon character, which is portrayed on the funnel.

History

Throughout her career, LÉ ''Ciara'' has been involved in fisheries protection patrols as well as search and rescue missions. In 2011, the vessel was temporarily taken out of service to address an issue with the hull, and was again kept out of commission for several months in mid-2014 for removal of asbestos. On 8 July 2022, LÉ ''Ciara'' was decommissioned together with and .

References

External links

IDF LÉ ''Ciara'' webpage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ciara (P42) 1984 ships Naval ships of the Republic of Ireland Former naval ships of the Republic of Ireland Peacock-class corvettes of the Irish Naval Service Peacock-class corvettes Ships built by Hall, Russell & Company