A recent and frequent visitor to Dublin, the ‘LE Eithne’ is considered by many to be the flagship of the Irish Naval Service.
Like the seven other ships in the fleet– ‘LE Emer’, ‘LE Aoife’, ‘LE Aishling’, ‘LE Orla’, ‘LE Ciara’, ‘LE Roisin’ and ‘LE Niamh’– the ‘LE Eithne’ moors at Sir John Rogerson’s Quay on the river Liffey’s south side when visiting Dublin.
‘LE Eithne’ was commisioned on 7 December 1984, so she is in her 25th year of service to the Irish Nation. She was built as the only Helicopter patrol vessel in the fleet.
The equipment fitted was to a very high standard and included the Naval Services first operations room with integrated control of armament and aircraft to a designated centre, remote from the bridge.
The main armament is a Bofers 57mm anti-aircraft gun with a LIOD fire control system. Secondary armament is provided by two 20mm Rheinmetal guns.
‘LE Eithne’ is also equipped with a DAOS Air Surveillance Radar. She weighs 1,760 tonnes, is 80.8 metres in length and is operated by 9 officers and 77 ratings, giving a total crew of 85. She has a top speed of 20 Knots and a range of 7,000 nautical miles at 15 Knots.
Like her sister ships, she spends an average of 210 days on active patrol around the Irish coast, the remaining days being spent in port. Although the ship’s main port is Haulbowline Island in Cork Harbour, ‘LE Eithne’ has a particularly close relationship with the town of Dun Laoighre in Co Dublin.
‘LE Eithne’ is closely associated with Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children in Dublin, and conducts fundraising efforts on the hospital’s behalf around the coast. She also frequently brings the children down to visit the ship for a morale boosting day out during their recuparation from illness.
In the summer of 1986, ‘LE Eithne’ scored a notable first by becoming the first Irish Naval Service ship to cross the Atlantic Ocean, when she sailed to the United States, visiting Hamilton, New York and Boston.
In the Autum of 2006 she scored another first, being the first Irish Naval Ship to cross the equator on a 12,000 nautical mile round trip to South America. She was invited to visit Argentina to celebrate the anniversary of Admiral Browne, a native of Co Mayo, who founded the Argentinean Navy.
The Naval Service keeps the tradition of naming its vessels after famous women from Irish and Celtic mythology.
The name Eithne was borne by many characters in Irish history and mythology, but the Eithne after whom this ship was named was the tragic heroine of an early Irish Romantic tale. She was the daughter of the one-eyed Formian King, Balor, and there was a prophesy which said that Balor would be slain by his own grandson.
Unlike some others Balor was a man who heeded these prophesies and as he had but one child, Eithne, he believed that this would be an easy prophesy to circumvent– Eithne had to be killed.
Bad as he was Balor could not bring himself to kill the child, so instead he had her walled up in a huge castle on Tory Island off the Donegal coast. There she grew up, guarded only by women, for no male was allowed set foot on the Island.
The story of the beautiful Princess walled up on Tory spread around the country and many warriors tried to capture her, but those few who survived the treacherous seas were killed by the guards.
However, one eventually did get through, disguised as a servant girl, and some time later King Balor learned that he had a grandson, Eithne had given birth to a healthy boy.
The furious king had Eithne and her lover killed and the infant thrown into the sea. But Mannin, the God of the Sea, took pity on the child and had a wave throw the child up on the beach, where a local farmer found him and reared him as his own.
He grew up to be wise and strong and when he heard of the injustices perpetrated by King Balor, he set out to rid the land of this tyrant. Needless to say he succeeded and in slaying Balor, he fulfilled the prophesy.