LÉ Macha (01)
| Career (United Kingdom) |  |
|---|---|
| Class and type: | Flower-class corvette |
| Name: | HMS Borage |
| Builder: | George Brown of Greenock |
| Laid down: | 21 November 1940 |
| Launched: | 6 November 1941 |
| Completed: | 29 April 1942 |
| Decommissioned: | 15 November 1946 |
| Maiden voyage: | 1942 |
| In service: | 1942-46 |
| Identification: | K120 |
| Career (Ireland) |  |
| Name: | LÉ Macha |
| Namesake: | Macha, an ancient Irish goddess of war |
| Acquired: | 15 November 1946 |
| Decommissioned: | 2 November 1970 |
| Identification: | Pennant number: 01 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Flower-class corvette |
| Displacement: | 1020 tons standard (1280 full load) |
| Length: | 205 ft (62 m) |
| Beam: | 33 ft (10 m) |
| Depth: | 14 ft (4.3 m) |
| Installed power: | Single reciprocating vertical 4-cylinder triple expansion by John Kincaid, Greenock. |
| Propulsion: | 2759 iHP 2 cylindrical Scotch single-ended boilers. Single shaft |
| Speed: | max: 16 knots. cruising: 12 knots |
| Complement: | 5 officers, 74 ratings |
| Sensors and processing systems: | ASDIC Radio Radar Gyrocompass Echo sounder Decca Navigator System |
| Electronic warfare and decoys: | Degaussing |
| Armament: | 1 x BL 4 inch Mk IX naval gun replaced in 1960 by a QF 4 inch Mk XIX naval gun 1 x QF 2 pounder naval gun 2 x Oerlikon 20 mm cannons 1 x hedgehog mortar 4 x depth-charge throwers 2 x depth-charge racks |
LÉ Macha was a ship in the Irish Naval Service. Built as a Flower-class corvette of the Royal Navy named HMS Borage, she was transferred on 15 Nov 1946 to the Irish Naval Service and renamed LÉ Macha after Macha, an ancient Irish goddess of war.
HMS Borage
She served as escort for the Arctic convoys from 1942-1945 before being sold to Ireland.
LÉ Macha
In September 1948, she had the honour of carrying the remains of William Butler Yeats from France to Drumcliffe, County Sligo, for reburial.[1] The voyage took 17 days. LÉ Macha was well received at Gibraltar and in France. The remains were received at Rocquebrune near Nice by Sean Murphy, the Irish Ambassador to France. There was a funeral march from Nice to the ship with band, trumpeters and military honours from a company of French alpine troops. It was the first time that France rendered military honours to a civilian.[2] The ship returned to Galway, whence the remains were carried by hearse to their final resting place in County Sligo.[3]
LÉ Macha was sold for scrap on 22 Nov 1970.
References
- ↑ Foster, R. F. (2003). W. B. Yeats: A Life, Vol. II: The Arch-Poet 1915–1939, p. 656. New York: Oxford UP. ISBN 0-19-818465-4.
- ↑ MacGinty, Tom (1995). The Irish Navy. Tralee: The Kerryman. p. 155. ISBN 0-946277-22-2.
- ↑ "WB Yeats laid to rest in Drumcliffe", The Irish Times, 18 Sept. 2009, republishing article from 18 September 1948.
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