Hopes final sea trials will see LÉ James Joyce delivered to navy

A €50m new ship undergoing final sea trials, the LÉ James Joyce, could be delivered to the Naval Service within days.

Meanwhile, the Maltese flag is now flying on the former LÉ Aoife after it was given to the Mediterranean island by Minister for Defence Simon Coveney.

The LÉ James Joyce was supposed to be delivered several weeks ago to replace the 35-year-old LÉ Aoife.

However, initial sea trials uncovered a problem with the ship’s propeller system and Mr Coveney said he would not accept delivery of the vessel until the problem had been ironed out, saying he had a duty to protect the taxpayers’ investment.

The 90m-long ship, which was being built at Babcock Marine’s shipyard in Appledore, north Devon, has a top speed of 23 knots.

LE James Joyce #ship returning to #Appledore #devon harbour after trial out at sea before delivery to the Irish #Navy pic.twitter.com/BLYpij6NYC

— Nettie&Rob (@edbro124) June 17, 2015

She will be 30% faster than the LÉ Aoife and will also be operate remote control drones and mini-submarines.

The same shipyard also built the LÉ Samuel Beckett, which entered service last year and will build a similar, as-yet unnamed vessel, which is expected to be delivered to the Naval Service in late-2016.

A Maltese naval crew has been at the navy’s Haulbowline base for the past few weeks familiarising themselves with the working of the LÉ Aoife.

Mr Coveney agreed to give the vessel to the Maltese for free as part of an agreement reached between the two countries on expanding co-operation on defence matters.

He also suggested it could be used by the Maltese to pick up migrants who are trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea from north Africa into southern Europe.

Malta already routinely co-ordinates rescues and takes in scores of refugees from the Middle East and North Africa.

The Maltese crew now formally own the vessel and have put their flag on it.

She has been taken for a final refit to Verlome dockyard and her crew are expected to bring the vessel back to Malta next month.

Meanwhile, the LÉ Eithne has returned to operational duties off the north-west coast of Libya after dropping off 647 migrants it rescued from two dangerously unsafe wooden barges on Monday.

It was the largest number of migrants saved in a single day’s operation since she started her EU-co-ordinated search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean Sea on May 28.

The navy’s flagship handed them over to the Italian authorities at the Sicilian port of Palermo.

The LÉ Eithne then set sail again and is expected to be busy in the coming days as conditions in the Mediterranean Sea are ideal for migrant crossings.