LÉ Samuel Beckett (P61)

Like other OPVs in the Irish Naval Service, the ship's primary mission is fisheries protection, search and rescue, and maritime protection operations, including vessel boardings.

Design and construction
In October 2010, the Irish Naval Service ordered a number of new offshore patrol vessels from Babcock Marine, a UK-based shipbuilder operating out of Appledore, North Devon. The first two vessels were named LÉ Samuel Beckett and LÉ James Joyce respectively, and planned to replace LÉ Emer (decommissioned September 2013; sold October 2013 ) and LÉ Aoife (scheduled to be decommissioned September 2014). Like the similar Róisín-class OPV, Samuel Beckett was designed by Vard Marine.

Although the ship was built using modern modular construction techniques, the keel was deemed to have been "laid down" during a keel-laying ceremony held at the Appledore Shipbuilding Yard on 19 May 2012 after the first two major components were connected together.

In July 2013, the name of the vessel, the LÉ Samuel Beckett was announced by the Minister for Defence Alan Shatter in Dáil Eireann.

Operational History
The ship was completed and floated out of the shipyard in November 2013,  delivered in April 2014 and commissioned for service in May 2014. The vessel was "twinned" with Cork city in a ceremony held on 7 June 2014.

Characteristics
Although similar to the Róisín-class OPV, LÉ Samuel Beckett is over 10 meters longer, intended to increase its capabilities in the rough waters of the North Atlantic. The ship is designed to carry a crew of 44 and have space for up to 10 trainees.

Additionally, LÉ Samuel Beckett is designed to carry remotely operated submersibles and a decompression chamber for divers. The expanded deck area would allow the ship to deploy unmanned surveillance planes.

Propulsion
The ship is powered by two a pair of 6 cylinder Wärtsilä diesel motors driving twin shafts that propel a top speed of 23 knots. The ship is also equipped with dynamic positioning systems and a power take-in (PTI) drive, to enable fuel savings as the main engines can be shut down and switched to alternative power sources such as stored battery power or a smaller more economical engine.