Crack navy teams show skills on training exercise

Armed Naval Service teams from one of their ships boarded a sister vessel off the south coast as part of agency’s ongoing battle against drug smuggling.

The highly-trained personnel from the LÉ Niamh were carrying out an important training exercise when they rushed the LÉ Eithne about 10 miles south of Cork yesterday morning.

Once the most heavily fortified harbour in western Europe, Cork and the entire coast are patrolled by the Naval Service which responds to information on illegal movement of drugs from international law agencies.

Among yesterday’s exercises, as part of a week of manoeuvres off the south coast, was an armed boarding of the Eithne, which was playing the role of a drugs-laden cargo ship.

The nine-member naval team sped from the LE Niamh to the other ship in two rigid inflatable ribs armed with handguns.

Real-life versions of this training exercise have been required in some of the Naval Service’s counter-narcotics work that has yielded drugs worth €1.7bn in Irish waters in the last six years. Almost 500 vessels have been boarded and five detained in the course of fishery protection duties this year alone.

This week’s fleet assessments also saw training for ongoing interaction with emergency services, and exercises on winching a casualty to an Air Corps helicopter were among other tasks carried out.

Commodore Mark Mellett DSM, Flag Officer Commanding the Naval Service, said the week has given the naval fleet an excellent opportunity to be exercised across the full range of maritime operations.

“The strategic vision for the Defence Forces is to continue to be relevant, useable and adaptable to the State. The exercises have once again underlined for me the immense professionalism of the men and women of the Naval Service,” he said.

Ireland’s maritime domain covers an area 12 times the size of its land mass. The service patrols 15% of EU waters, which are under Irish sovereign control and provide an estimated €3.4bn a year in resources to the Exchequer.