The Minister for Defence, Mr. Simon Coveney, T.D., announced that LÉ RÓISÍN will depart from the Naval Base, Haulbowline, on Sunday, 01st of May at 12.00 noon. The ship is to undertake humanitarian search and rescue operations in conjunction with the Italian authorities.
Commanded by Lieutenant Commander Ultan Finegan, the 57 strong crew of the LÉ RÓISÍN have been completing pre-deployment training and preparing the ship for an extended deployment since receiving notice to sail.
This is the first Naval Service deployment to the Mediterranean under Operation PONTUS in 2016. The Defence Forces personnel that crewed LÉ Eithne, LÉ Niamh and LÉ Samuel Beckett in 2015 rescued a total of 8,592 people during the course of their deployments to the Mediterranean.
LÉ RÓISÍN (P51) is a first-of-class offshore patrol vessel. It is one of the youngest ships in service in the Naval Service fleet, and is named after Róisín Dubh the embodiment of Ireland in the Irish poetic tradition.
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