History of the Irish Naval Service started, and the ships were named "Cliona", "Maev" and "Macha". These three ships were to become a key part of the Naval Service in the 1950s and 1960s. The first formal training of Irish Naval Cadets took place at the Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, UK in 1947. Between 1968 and 1970, Cliona, Maev and Macha were withdrawn from service. These were replaced by three minesweepers commissioned in 1971: Grainne, Banba and Fola. In 1971 the Naval Service commissioned Verolme Cork Dockyard to build an offshore patrol ship. Named L.É Deirdre, it was the first naval vessel purpose-built in Ireland
Royal Naval War College Royal Naval War College The Royal Naval War College was a training establishment for senior naval officers based originally at Greenwich, then Plymouth, then Portsmouth, and then Greenwich again. Branch colleges were also based at Chatham and Plymouth prior to the First World War it existed from 1900 to 1914. The college, which was established in 1900 and known as the War Course College until 1907, catered for flag officers, captains and commanders. Its courses included training in tactical naval war games, strategic naval war games, studying and writing reports on various problems and lectures on various subjects. The college's