LÉ Aisling
Aisling at Haulbowline, September 2007
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| History | |
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 Ireland
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| Name: | LÉ Aisling |
| Namesake: | Aisling, a vision poem |
| Builder: | Verolme Dockyard, Cork |
| Laid down: | 31 January 1979 |
| Launched: | 3 October 1979 |
| Commissioned: | 21 May 1980 |
| Decommissioned: | 22 June 2016 |
| Homeport: | Haulbowline Naval Base |
| Identification: | Pennant number: P23 |
| Fate: | Decomissioned |
| Status: | Decomissioned |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Emer class OPV |
| Type: | Offshore patrol vessel |
| Displacement: | 1019.5 tonnes standard |
| Length: | 65.2 m (214 ft) overall |
| Beam: | 10.5 m (34 ft) |
| Draught: | 4.4 m (14 ft) |
| Speed: | 31.5 km/h (17.0 kn) maximum |
| Complement: | 46 (5 officers and 41 ratings ) |
| Armament: | |
LÉ Aisling is an offshore patrol vessel that was in service with the Irish Naval Service from 1980 to 2016. The ship was named after the poem, Aisling, to commemorate the centenary of the birth of the poet and nationalist Patrick Pearse.
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. It was the adopted ship of Galway, and officially decommissioned in its adopted city in June 2016.
There were three offshore patrol vessels 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.
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. Aisling came across Sonia illegally fishing in Irish waters south of the Saltee Islands near County Wexford. 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 10 feet, a small margin given the weather conditions. According to the captain, the heavy trawler's hull would have sliced Aisling's 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.
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Wikipedia