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Ireland commissions new Naval Service vessel

6th May 2019 - 14:30 GMT | by Shephard News Team

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The Ireland Department of Defence has commissioned a new Naval Service vessel, the LÉ George Bernard Shaw, at the Frank Cassin Wharf, Waterford.

The commissioning marks the end of the current phase of the Naval Service ship replacement programme, which has seen the supply of four new vessels since 2014. George Bernard Shaw is the final ship of the P60 class vessels built at Babcock Marine Appledore in Devon. Three ships, LÉ Samuel Beckett, LÉ James Joyce and LÉ William Butler Yeats are in full operational service. The total value of the contract for the four vessels was €270 million.

The 90m long vessel has a beam of 14m and has a maximum speed of 23kt. The vessel has a range of 6000 nautical miles at a speed of 15kt.

The vessel is equipped with one 76mm OTO Melara gun, two 20mm RH-202 Rheinmetall cannons, two 12.7mm Browning heavy machine guns and four 7.62mm general purpose machine guns.