Irish Naval Vessel LÉ George Bernard Shaw arrived in Glasgow this week, the visit by the Offshore Patrol Vessel is the first Irish Naval visit to Scotland for over 10 years.

The Royal Navy tweeted a video of the arrival.

LÉ George Bernard Shaw is a Samuel Beckett-class offshore patrol vessel of the Irish Naval Service. It is the fourth ship in a series of vessels designed by Vard Marine and built by Babcock Marine Appledore, and is named for the writer George Bernard Shaw.

According to the Irish Naval Service:

“LÉ George Bernard Shaw (pennant number P64) is the fourth and final ship of the P60 class vessels built for the Naval Service in Babcock Marine Appledore, Devon. In keeping with the ethos of a continuous learning organisation, she contains a number of minor improvements over her sister ships, aimed primarily at improving energy efficiency whilst still maintaining effectiveness. She is designed as on Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV), with the endurance and capability to defend Ireland’s interests at, and from, any sea in the world.”

The ship was accepted into service in October 2018, and, following a military fit-out, has commenced Maritime Defence and Security Operations at sea. Additionally, the ship recently conducted night operations & fishery protection duties.

Avatar photo
George has a degree in Cyber Security from Glasgow Caledonian University and has a keen interest in naval and cyber security matters and has appeared on national radio and television to discuss current events. George is on Twitter at @geoallison
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

54 Comments
oldest
newest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Jonathan
Jonathan
1 year ago

See other parts of the U.K. can build ships.

Warren
Warren
1 year ago
Reply to  Jonathan

Don’t say that you will upset jimmy cranky and she is a very sensitive little lady

Barry Larking
Barry Larking
1 year ago
Reply to  Warren

Insensitive surely?

Andy P
Andy P
1 year ago
Reply to  Jonathan

Not for the RN they can’t…… 😉

Monkey spanker
Monkey spanker
1 year ago
Reply to  Jonathan

Is appledore still owned by babcock? I would think even 3 shipyards may be a struggle to keep in business with just Royal Navy orders. Slow build type 26 asw frigate at BAE govan, sub building at BAE barrow, type 31 frigate at rosyth and probably carrier refit.
Are appledore or any other yards in the rest of the U.K. bidding for future ships? Solid stores, then the amphibious (can’t remember the name, 6 of them)

Steve M
Steve M
1 year ago
Reply to  Monkey spanker

Appledore is owned by H&W now, but they built HMS Scott so have ability to build ships upto roughly 130m /13k Tons which is between Rivers and T31/32 size so unless we build another class of large OPV/patrol corvette don’t think can do more than build modules like they did for carriers. Of course the sensible thing would have been to order t-26 earlier to be built in Glasgow and have Rivers built in Devon

Last edited 1 year ago by Steve M
Mark
Mark
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve M

Their fit out quay is tidal though which caused significant delays to several of the P60s and at least one major repair to a misaligned shaft. Not sure how viable that is for other major builds.

Coll
Coll
1 year ago
Reply to  Monkey spanker

No. I think Appledore is now owned by Harland & Wolff.

Jonathan
Jonathan
1 year ago
Reply to  Monkey spanker

To be honest Monkey If you look at the national ship building strategy the three main yards have decades of work even with just the frigates and nuclear subs. We actual need more yards to satisfy the full requirements if our government actually orders from British yards. on the large ship side we have many hundreds of thousand tons of dry stores ship, amphibians and red ships and strategic sea lift ships that will need building over the next 20 years, that actual probably 2 ship yards worth. Then smaller ships we have the mine warfare vessels coming up and… Read more »

Matt
Matt
1 year ago
Reply to  Jonathan

Of course the opportunity will be missed with the current PM.

You think BJ plans further ahead than 6cosine(45) in front of his pelvis?

Peter tattersll
Peter tattersll
1 year ago
Reply to  Matt

Boris increased Defence sending after years of Labour and Cameron cuts .

andy a
andy a
1 year ago

Yes I dont like the guy but after years of cut cut cut he is first to recognise we dont live in the fluffy nice world they thought, bad guys dont follow the rules!
Good on him, rebuilding the navy is a good start but lets see if they can help the army in is incredible lack of lethality and capabilities, its ok deploying 4000 more infantry to East Europe what are they to fight with??

Last edited 1 year ago by andy a
David Lloyd
David Lloyd
1 year ago

Is that a Melara 75mm cannon I see?

Cripes, our Type 31s will only have a 57mm Mk110 gun. Lets hope we don’t get into an argument with the Irish over fishing rights 🙂

Sean
Sean
1 year ago
Reply to  David Lloyd

If the T31 did, it would probably take out the OPV using its helicopter long before it could use its gun. Failing that, using its Sea Ceptors in anti-ship mode would do the job.
(Assuming it wasn’t carrying any Block V TLAMs in its proposed Type 41 VLS tubes…)

Just Me
Just Me
1 year ago
Reply to  Sean

Yeah, right whatever is on the PowerPoint this week.

Jonathan
Jonathan
1 year ago
Reply to  David Lloyd

The general rule around fishing wars is a good old ramming and rubbing with nothing that goes bang.

AlexS
AlexS
1 year ago
Reply to  Jonathan

Ramming and rubbing don’t do wonders for a hull’s long life. It is the worse thing that can happen to a ship. Some never recover and are crippled for the remaining time they have.

Jonathan
Jonathan
1 year ago
Reply to  AlexS

There are some lovey examples and pictures from the cod wars, the Icelanders loves a bit of ramming and rubbing. I think the RN found it all a bit off putting, getting rubbed up the wrong way by a load of Icelandic patrol boats with Napoleon complexes.

Gavin Gordon
Gavin Gordon
1 year ago
Reply to  David Lloyd

Know it’s only light hearted, but the 57 & 76 have pros and cons. So, you takes your choice. Personally, perfectly happy with our 57mm (combined with same make 40 on Type 31, must lead to efficient operation overall).

Posse Comitatus
Posse Comitatus
1 year ago

They are a very smart looking vessel, reminds me of the old type 21. Probably almost as capable!!..

Mark
Mark
1 year ago

The James Joyce was in Liverpool as well over the last couple of weeks.

Mark
Mark
1 year ago

Now if only the DOD would stop fecking around with the MRV contract…

Barry Larking
Barry Larking
1 year ago

Good. I note from British Forces T.V. the Irish have sent aid and comfort to the Ukraine.

Mark
Mark
1 year ago
Reply to  Barry Larking

Body armour, medical supplies, and rations off the top of my head.

Barry Larking
Barry Larking
1 year ago
Reply to  Mark

‘ … and rations off the top of my head.

I don’t find that an appetising thought Mark to be honest. No offence …

Last edited 1 year ago by Barry Larking
Nathan
Nathan
1 year ago

George Bernard Shaw – nasty piece of work and held some appalling views, out right sympathiser and apologist for Soviet oppression and marxist ideologies.

Mark
Mark
1 year ago
Reply to  Nathan

A former Minister of Defence pretty much forced the change in naming conventions, but the navy needed the hulls so went with the change.

AlexS
AlexS
1 year ago
Reply to  Nathan

Indeed, not only that he also held at same time some sort of weird supremacist views within his socialism, just like if you don’t contribute enough to socialism you are some sort of lesser-human.

geoff
geoff
1 year ago

Nice to see the warm relations between the UK and Ireland as illustrated here despite our troubled past. Contrast this with the actions of Putin whose brutalising of ethnic kin, close neighbours and former partners in the Soviet Union really illustrates how evil this individual is. Also let us not forget that both Kruschev and Brezhnev had Ukranian roots.
The Irish OPV’s are good looking ships

Last edited 1 year ago by geoff
Mark
Mark
1 year ago
Reply to  geoff

The Navy’s have always been the most connected given the RN basically helped create it, pity Dev didn’t take up the suggestion of getting some of the Free Polish Navy integrated.

Matt
Matt
1 year ago

OT: Interesting to see La Truss suggesting warplane supply to Ukraine by NATO allies. I’m wondering what we have in the UK inventory, and the only thing I can think of potentially in any quantity are upgraded Hawk T1s for ground attack. How many of these have we kept, how many are a parts-mine, and what spec / condition are they? As a mainly trainer, they are presumably easy to learn. To me that has a feel of making sense. AIUI they are still in production, and operated by many intermediate-tech level airforces. So a potential role after all this… Read more »

Last edited 1 year ago by Matt
Paul T
Paul T
1 year ago
Reply to  Matt

The Hawk’s we have spare won’t offer much if anything ( being Trainers ) in the way of Ground Attack – while something is always better than nothing they just wouldn’t be worth the effort and expense.

Barry Larking
Barry Larking
1 year ago
Reply to  Matt

Ms Truss is thinking of swopping Soviet era jets with N.A.T.O. surplus aircraft (or nearly so) for former Warsaw Pact countries who could pass these on. It was an idea suggested weeks ago.

The striking feature of the war so far has been the non performing Russian air force. Maintenance, spares, training or all three?

Taz
Taz
1 year ago

Why aren’t they flying the navy ensign from the jack staff but the national flag instead? 🤔

Matt
Matt
1 year ago
Reply to  Taz

>In keeping with the ethos of a continuous learning organisation, she contains a number of minor improvements over her sister ships, aimed primarily at improving energy efficiency whilst still maintaining effectiveness.

Irish Tricolour is more aerodynamic 😎

geoff
geoff
1 year ago
Reply to  Taz

Taz, the Jack Staff is for the Jack i.e. the National Flag. The Ensign flys from the stern so the National Flag is in the correct spot

geoff
geoff
1 year ago
Reply to  geoff

PS-just checked the photo.In virtually every Commonwealth and other nation the National Flag is the Jack and flies from the bow. I see in the above photo the Tricolour is indeed on the “wrong” pole, but the Jack staff is at the bow not the stern. The only other country that i can recall doing this was Canada who swapped the Ensign and staff between the traditional spots. They have since reverted to the traditional placings and reinstated the Royal title

Taz
Taz
1 year ago
Reply to  geoff

Ireland has a naval ensign, I’m asking why isn’t it being flown in place of the national flag. Did somebody get it wrong?
Easy enough to make errors. As you spotted I called the ensign staff the jack and that’s after 40 years with the RN. I just had a senior moment.

Last edited 1 year ago by Taz
Taz
Taz
1 year ago
Reply to  geoff

Deleted

Last edited 1 year ago by Taz
Mark B
Mark B
1 year ago

I for one would like to see the Irish republic spend 2% minimum on defence and increase cooperation with neighbouring countries. Northern Ireland’s contribution to defence is massive compared to it’s size and a credit to it’s inhabitants.

BB85
BB85
1 year ago
Reply to  Mark B

The Irish property crash didn’t help things. Once the drama of the cost of living crises is over I think ROI will increase their spending. They don’t need a particularly large army but should be able to police their own airspace and eez.

Mark
Mark
1 year ago
Reply to  BB85

The Crash mainly resulted in procurement delays, hence why the new CASAs are only being delivered now, and why the P60 and MRV were delayed. The defence spend had been dropping in percentage terms since the GFA in the 90s (though the increasing economy offset that to a degree).

The Commissions findings are out now, and Coveney is meant to bring proposals to Cabinet by June, rumours have floated that it might be a doubling of spending to about €2 billion.

Mark
Mark
1 year ago
Reply to  Mark B

NI is part of the U.K., so I’m not sure how you separate it out in terms of defence, since that’s a national policy? Ireland won’t be spending 2% on defence under any circumstances (even at the height of the Troubles it was still only in the mid 1% range), as for cooperation it depends entirely in what you mean, we already do cooperate across a range of areas.

Last edited 1 year ago by Mark
Stu
Stu
1 year ago
Reply to  Mark B

They don’t need to. Not in NATO, no EU requirement to spend on defence, they’re a neutral/militarily unaligned nation. This may change as the EU move toward closer and closer integration but for now, they’re fine. Geographically they’re pretty safe from invasion & if anyone was ever mad enough to invade, in addition to the UK undoubtebly getting involved (if not because we’d probably feel obliged, we don’t want to end up sharing a land border with an agressor) all of the EU are required to come to their aid. No air force required as the RAF looks after their… Read more »

Mark
Mark
1 year ago
Reply to  Stu

It is already changing, or at least potentially is, come back in June and there might be more information on what that might be, rumours suggest at least the Commissions “LoA2” with about €2 Billion budget, so effectively a doubling, though no idea on the time frame of that.

Mickey
Mickey
1 year ago
Reply to  Mark

It is changing quite a bit. Collective security has been proven to work since the Russian invasion. Now Ireland and Austria need to sign up to NATO. Ireland does not need a big military but it does need to have a better equipped force than it has.

Chris.
Chris.
1 year ago

I remember the Irish air force at RIAT in the 90s. It left Dublin around 09:00 and arrived at Fairford about 11:00.

Mark
Mark
1 year ago

She’s left as of today.

Gavin Gordon
Gavin Gordon
1 year ago

Anyone confirm that Babcock still has a contract for up to 8 P50-U fast attack craft for Ukraine since Donbas war kicked off? Aware framework agreement struck in February, but comment in Sunday Times seems to counter. Ukraine London Ambassador, Prystaiko, stated “We had to scrap this project. It was delay after delay”.

RobW
RobW
1 year ago
Reply to  Gavin Gordon

I thought 1 was supposed to be built in Scotland and the other 7 in Ukraine. Given the war there are other priorities even if all 8 were to be built here.

Gavin Gordon
Gavin Gordon
1 year ago
Reply to  RobW

Did write a longer coninuation of this but it seems not to have got through. Anyway, essence was querying status of contract itself based upon reported quote from ambassador.

Airborne
Airborne
1 year ago

GBS was a bit of a bell-end in his day!

David
David
1 year ago
Reply to  Airborne

Wasn’t he one of Stalin’s “useful idiots”?

Just Me
Just Me
1 year ago

This ONE Irish OPV outguns the entire RN OPV force