View source for Irish patrol vessel Muirchú

{{Short description|Irish naval vessel formerly in British service}}
{{Use Hiberno-English|date=April 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
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|Ship image =HMCS Malaspina E-75597.jpg
|Ship caption = HMCS Malaspina of the same design as the ''Muirchu''
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|Ship country = United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
|Ship flag = {{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|naval}} 
|Ship name = ''Helga II''
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|Ship builder = Dublin Liffey Dockyard
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|Ship launched = 1908
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|Ship christened = 1908
|Ship completed = July 1908
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|Ship commissioned =1915 
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|Ship renamed =''Helga'' 1915
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|Ship fate =Passed to Irish Free State
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{{Infobox ship career
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|Ship country = Ireland
|Ship flag = {{shipboxflag|Ireland|naval}}
|Ship name = ''Muirchú''<ref name="navalassoc">[http://homepage.eircom.net/~navalass12/ships.htm Naval Association - Homepage - Ships]</ref>
|Ship namesake = [[Irish language|Irish]]: ''Hound of the Sea''
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|Ship builder = Dublin Liffey Dockyard
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|Ship acquired =1923
|Ship commissioned = August 1923
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|Ship decommissioned = 1947
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|Ship renamed =August 1923
|Ship reclassified = 1923
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|Ship fate = Sold to Hammond Lane Scrap Merchants Dublin, sank on delivery voyage.<ref name="navalassoc"/>
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|Ship type = [[Yacht|Steam yacht]]
|Ship displacement = 323 tons
|Ship length = {{convert|155|ft|m|abbr=on}}
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|Ship armament =*as built: QF 3-pounder Hotchkiss gun
*later: 2 x [[QF 12 pounder 12 cwt naval gun]]
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|Ship notes = <ref>Collins p145</ref>
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'''Public Armed Ship {{lang|ga|Muirchú}}''' ({{IPA-ga|ˈmˠɪɾʲxuː|lang}}) was a ship in the service of Irish Free State's ''Coastal and Marine Service (CMS)''. She was the former [[Royal Navy]] ship '''HMY ''Helga''''' and was involved in shelling [[Liberty Hall]] in [[Dublin]] from the [[River Liffey]] with her pair of [[QF 12-pounder 12 cwt naval gun|12-pounder naval guns]]<ref>{{cite book|author1=Antony Preston|author2=John Major|title=Send a Gunboat: The Victorian Navy and Supremacy at Sea, 1854–1904|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G-22VoPMVqMC&pg=PA131|year=2006|publisher=Conway Maritime|isbn=978-1-59114-818-0|page=131}}</ref> during the [[Easter Rising]] of 1916.

''Helga'' was purchased by the [[Irish Free State]] in 1923 and renamed {{langx|ga|Muirchú|lit=Hound of the Sea|label=none}}.

She sank off the [[Wexford]] coast after disposal in 1947. The wheel was recovered from the wreck by local divers and can now be seen in Kehoes Pub in Kilmore Quay.{{Citation needed|date=January 2016}}

The [[ship prefix|prefix]] [[Long Éireannach|LÉ]] is sometimes mistakenly used with {{Lang|ga|Muirchú}}. The prefix was introduced in December 1946 when the [[Irish Naval Service]] was established with the purchase of three corvettes from the [[Royal Navy]] replacing {{Lang|ga|Muirchú}}.

==Career==

===UK career===
She was built in Liffey Dockyard in 1908<ref>{{citation |title=The "Helga / Muirchu:" Her Contribution to Galway Maritime History |journal = Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society|volume = 54|pages = 141–167|last=Timothy Collins |publisher=Galway Archaeological & Historical Society |date=2002|jstor = 25573628}} (registration required)</ref> as a fishery research and protection cruiser and was named ''Helga II''.  Such was interest in her design that Canada ordered two ships to the same specification (''[[HMCS Galiano]]'' and ''[[HMCS Malaspina]]'').<ref>Collins p147</ref>

She was then under control of the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction (Ireland) until she was taken over by the [[British Admiralty|Admiralty]] in March 1915 when she became officially described as His Majesty's Yacht ''Helga'', an armed steam yacht – officially an "Armed Auxiliary Patrol Yacht".  At this time the "II" was dropped from her name and she served as an anti-submarine patrol vessel as well as undertaking escort duty in the Irish Sea.<ref name="is"/>

''Helga'' was involved in the [[Easter Rising]] when British forces used her to shell areas around [[Dublin]], including [[Liberty Hall]], in April 1916.<ref>{{cite book|author=Townshend, Charles|title=Easter 1916: The Irish Rebellion}}</ref> In April 1918 she was credited with the sinking of a submarine off the [[Isle of Man]] and for the remainder of her career she carried a star on her funnel as an indicator of this,<ref name="is">{{Cite web |title=The Helga 11 (Muirchu) |url=http://www.irishships.com/helga_11_muirchu.html |access-date=2023-12-17 |website=www.irishships.com}}</ref> even though no submarine was recorded as being sunk in the area at that time.<ref>{{cite book|author=Stokes, Roy|title=U-Boat  Alley|page=239|isbn=0-9549186-0-6}}</ref>{{citation needed|date=May 2019}}

In October of the same year {{RMS|Leinster}} was torpedoed off the Kish and 517 were lost. ''Helga'' was fuelling in [[Dún Laoghaire]]<ref name="is"/> at the time. She rescued ninety of the passengers. ''Helga'' was released from the navy in March 1919 and returned to fisheries work. She was later used to transport [[Royal Irish Constabulary]] special constables known as [[Black and Tans]] around the coast when many of the roads in Ireland were rendered impassable by the IRA in the War of Independence.

===Irish service===
''Helga'' was handed over to the [[Irish Free State]] in August 1923 and was renamed {{Lang|ga|Muirchú}}. She thus became one of the first ships in the newly established Coastal and Marine Service. She was commandeered in July 1922 by the government and used against [[Anti-Treaty|anti-treaty]] forces in Munster.

However, in the following year the vessel was returned to the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries to carry on her task of fishery protection. It was not until the actual day on which the [[Second World War]] was declared that the Marine and Coastwatching Service was established and on 12 December 1939 {{Lang|ga|Muirchú}} was taken over by this Service from the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries.

{{Lang|ga|Muirchú}} was sold to Hammond Lane Foundry by the Irish Government, and while on passage to Dublin on 8 May 1947 she sank off the [[Saltee Islands]] – though not before her crew safely evacuated.

==Notes==
{{Reflist|20em}}

==Bibliography==
*{{cite journal |last1=Zolandez |first1=Thomas|title=Question 42/99: Irish Gunboat ''Muirchu'' |journal=Warship International |date=2004 |volume=XLI |issue=4 |pages=348–349 |issn=0043-0374}}

== External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070312034655/http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/S/0017/S.0017.193312130009.html 1933 Seanad Éireann debate relating to ''Muirchú'']

{{IrishNavyFleet}}
{{1947 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muirchu}}
[[Category:Former naval ships of the Republic of Ireland]]
[[Category:Patrol vessels of the Royal Navy]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1947]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks in the Irish Sea]]
[[Category:1908 ships]]
[[Category:Ships built in Ireland]]
[[Category:Irish Civil War ships]]