Visitors salute Naval Service jubilee

RITUALS. Symbols. Pipes. Guns. But no victories, no defeats. Under blistering sunshine and light winds in Cork Harbour yesterday warships from seven states saluted the Naval Service jubilee.

When Queen Victoria performed the last fleet review almost a century ago, the flag was British and the ships were under sail. Some 99 years later, the Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Forces didn't have to tack down the harbour. And didn't travel in a royal yacht.

"Serendipity," sighed one naval officer, as he scanned the visiting fleet. Among the seven foreign warships reviewed at sea by the President, Mrs Robinson, was the Royal Navy vessel, HMS Manchester. It was pure coincidence, Lieut Cdr Jim Carney, the fleet review press officer, emphasised - but as an "envoy of peace" after its parent city had been blighted, its name "could not have been more appropriate".

Dressed overall in national and naval flags, the parade from Holland, Britain, Canada, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, and France stretched from Monkstown to Whitegate, from the Spit lighthouse to the Dogs nose Bank. Decks lined with uniformed crew, each craft saluted the Naval Service flagship, LF Eithne, skippered by Cdr Rory Costello.

The Royal Navy crew took their caps off and cheered. Smoke rose languidly from Haulbowline, as guns fired salutes at 50 second intervals - one for each jubilee year. Bobbing in the LE Eithne's six-knot wake was a flotilla of steam and sail, including Cork port tug and pilot boats, yachts, and the Slua Muiri sail training vessels, Creidne and Nancy Bet.

"An unforgettable experience" was how the President described the 50th birthday, after she had inspected the guard of honour, presented the official cased "colour flag and handed bronze medallions to a dozen representative veterans ashore. Given the weather forecast, it was as if "the heavens approved", she said. Mrs Robinson was well aware that this was a very important time for the Naval Service, in the context of the European Union.

Among those on duty were Roberta O'Brien (19) from Tipperary and Orla Gallagher (20) from Dublin, the service's first two female cadets. As members of the 35th cadet class of four, the women, receive identical training and will be despatched for fishery patrols on the LE Emer in about 10 days.

The ceremony was hosted by the flag officer commanding the Naval Service, Commodore John J Kavanagh, and among the guests were the Minister for Defence and the Marine, Mr Barrett, the Chief-of-Staff of the Defence Forces, Lieut-Gen Gerry McMahon, and the new Garda Commissioner, Mr Pat Byrne.

For Warrant Officer, John Murphy, it was an emotional occasion. His last official duty in the service was to undertake the "colour" ceremony. As for Pat Regan (78), from Quilty, Co Clare, this was a bit of history he hadn't expected to witness. It was 56 years since he had travel led up in one of three lorries for training on Spike Island during the "emergency" - and just two years after Eamon de Valera had received the "treaty ports".

Sent to sea in the Muirchu, his most vivid memory was a trip to sink two mines off Rosslare. "By the time we had got there, we had sunk 14 more."

The visiting warships are open to the public as part of Cork's international maritime festival this weekend. But it is not open season on the State's fishing grounds. By lunchtime yesterday, three of the naval service's patrol vessels had put back to sea.