The Irish Naval Service’s newest ship, the €50 million LÉ Samuel Beckett (P61), was christened by Caroline Murphy, niece of the Nobel Prize-winning playwright, after whom the ship is named, at Dublin’s Liffey Quays, near the East Link Bridge, on 17 May.
The new offshore patrol vessel was also commissioned into the Naval Service, with Irish Prime Minister and Minister for Defence, Enda Kenny, present together with representatives from Babcock Marine Appledore shipyard, which built the vessel. Babcock is currently building LÉ James Joyce, as the second ship in a contract totalling €108 million, due to enter service in 2015. The 90m vessel has been designed by STX Marine to handle harsh Atlantic seas, and replaces the oldest unit of Ireland’s eight-strong naval fleet, the 1978-built LÉ Emer. JA
