The Irish Navy commissioned its fourth and final P60 class offshore patrol vessel (OPV) LÉ George Bernard Shaw in a ceremony in Waterport on April 30.
The vessel was commissioned after being floated out at Babcock’s shipyard in Appledore, North Devon, in April 2018.
Babcock built the four OPVs under a 2010 contract signed with the Irish defense ministry.
The 90-meter, 2256-ton OPVs have a top speed of 23 knots and have a range of 6,000 nautical miles at a cruise speed of 15 knots on a single engine. They are based on the VARD 7 090 design.
The OPVs have a 76mm gun as the main weapon and are able to act as a mother ship for three rigid hulled inflatable boats.
LÉ Samuel Beckett, LÉ William Butler Yeats and LÉ James Joyce joined the Irish Navy in 2014, 2015 and 2016, respectively.
The OPVs perform a range of duties including fishery protection, drug interdiction, search and rescue, anti-pollution and maritime security duties.