What It’s Really Like… To Be In The Navy

Joining the Navy isn't considered a typical career choice but from her early teens, it was the only thing on Nessa Maloney's mind. Over the past sixteen years, Lieutenant Maloney had worked her way up through the ranks to become second-in-command on the L.E. Róisín and welcomed Her.ie aboard during a recent visit to Dublin for a chat about the highs and lows of her chosen path.

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How did you decide to join the Navy? I would have been involved in sailing for years and my neighbour was in the army so I would have known about his career growing up and was fascinated with it. His trips to the Lebanon really interested me and when I got to the age of 14 or 15, someone said to me ‘why don’t you combine your love of sailing with the military and look at the Navy as an option?’. From there, it was in my mind but I went to an all-girls school in Tipperary so when I talked to the career advisors, they really didn’t know that much about the Navy, it wasn’t on their radar so I ended up doing two years studying Arts in college in Galway. The year I started happened to be the year that the Navy started sending their young officers to Galway. I met some of them and expressed my interest and they really helped me out, brought me to visit the ships, arranged tours of the Naval base and gave me a really great insight into the career and that was what made up my mind. Was it tough to break into the industry? In my second year, when applications for cadets came out, they encouraged me to go for it and as it happened, I got it first time. I didn’t really have to think twice about it. The minute I got the letter, I packed my bags and moved to Cork. To become a cadet, I had to meet age requirements, have certain Leaving Certificate grades, and complete fitness and psychometric tests, as well as several interviews. It's a fairly rigorous process as you're training to be an executive branch officer and ultimately, the captain of a ship. There are so many opportunities within the Navy though, depending on your area of interest.  A lot of people train as a recruit, which would be an easier route, and then can complete different branch training in a number of areas to become Seamen, Mechinitions, Supplies or Communications Operatives. There are many roles required onboard a ship so there are plenty of opportunities for people to progress into trades and become electricians, engine room fitters, cooks, medics or carpenters. Aren't women a relatively new addition to the Navy? Women are only in the Navy since 1995. At officer level, we’ve had five women in command of ships already, three female officers at middle-management level or Non-Commissioned Officer level, which is a fantastic achievement and there’s women in nearly every position you could think of. Women have really infiltrated very well and there’s equal opportunities, regardless of whether you are male or female. The Navy has been great in accepting that women are now part of its numbers and we are afforded the opportunity to go into every career avenue. There’s no barriers other than those created by the individual. Was it daunting to face into military training? I had been in college for two years and had the freedom that comes with that so you’re coming into an environment that is military, where there is a lot of discipline involved. The early morning calls, inspections (your room had to be cleaned to within an inch of its life) and you were given a plan of your room to show exactly how it had to be laid out…it was uniform and that’s what the military is all about. I would be naturally as organised as I can be. I like my house clean, things in their place. I couldn’t sit down to dinner without the dishes being tidy! The military would suit me in that way I suppose. The only thing was that I didn’t like getting out of my bed so getting up early in the morning didn’t really suit me for the most part. You get used to it. We spent three months in the Curragh with the Army and there was a lot of fitness and small weapons training there. Did you have to focus on one area or what was the core of your training? As a cadet, you’re training to be an officer and as an officer, you should have an insight into everything that happens on-board a ship. If you’re going to be a captain of a ship and your engineer comes to discuss a problem, you should have some knowledge of what is going on. It’s so broad. I remember during one of my visits, I was driving back with my dad and I remember asking him ‘What do you think? Do you think it’s for me?’ and he said to me ‘that’s going to be some education’ and it really was. It’s fascinating, you learn so much about a lot of things. The Naval Service is the State's principal seagoing agency with a general responsibility to meet contingent and actual maritime defence requirements. It is tasked with a variety of defence and other roles. Defence roles include defending territorial seas, deterring intrusive or aggressive acts, conducting maritime surveillance, maintaining an armed naval presence, ensuring rite of passage, protecting marine assets and contributing to a blockade if required. The Naval Service must also be capable of supporting Army operations by sea lift and close naval support. What's a typical day like? The joy of this job is that while it’s a military, it isn’t a routine because it’s so varied. When we’re at sea steaming overnight, the ship is always alive. I’m second-in-command at the moment so my watch on the bridge is from 4am to 8am and again from 4pm to 8pm. I’m normally up at 3.30am and on the bridge by 4am. Then the Gunnery Officer would hand over to me and let me know what the Captain wants for the morning. It’s my job then to follow the Captain’s orders and get the ship to where he wants it to be. You have to monitor traffic, adhere to regulations, monitor the course and weather conditions. If its routine fisheries, we would try to station the ship for activities in the morning so once 8am comes, I would be supervising the launching of the boats, making sure that everything is safe. You might get down to your cabin to do a bit of paperwork then before I’m allowed to rest from 12noon to 4pm. Then it’s back up on the bridge until 8pm on navigation and there’s always something happening after, there’s a lot of training that would go on whether it is a firefighting exercise or a gunnery shoot. If you don’t do your training, you become complacent. For a ten-day period every year, an auditing body comes on board the ship and they basically put us through our paces in very single scenario, they’ll set off smoke grenades to simulate fire, they’ll draw an X on the side of the ship to simulate a hole and see how we react. It’s a very busy and intense week but for the most part, it’s thoroughly enjoyable! How long do you spend on the ship? You spend two years posted to a ship and for the most part, you’ll be with the same people. You get to meet really interesting people and get to know people very well because you’re spending 24 hours a day with them. It’s not like you’re clocking off at 5pm and going to your own house. It’s not for people who like a lot of their own space. It’s quite strange being in a house and not having anyone waiting to say hello! What's the biggest challenge that you face in your job? You spend four weeks on patrol and two weeks in Cork to maintain ship and do paperwork so the time away from friends and family is tough. We’re very lucky now that we have the Internet because that wasn’t there when I joined and not everybody would have had mobile phones. I remember there was a place we used to dock in Bare Island where there was a phone box and the ship’s crew would be queuing en masse to phone home. And if you were the last person, the actual coin box might be full so you wouldn’t get to make your call! You are missing out on certain things. That’s part of the sacrifice. After spending two years at sea, you have the opportunity to have a shore-based position for two years and that offers you the chance to complete courses, spend time with friends or do anything else that you've missed out on. I joined the Navy because I wanted to go to sea so it would be naïve to say that I didn’t want to go away. I have to admit that as you get older, it does get that harder. I don’t have kids myself but my siblings have and there’s certain things that you will miss out on. I suppose, as a woman, as you get older, you also start thinking about having your own children and whether you would be prepared to go away. My own family still don’t understand what I do and where I am half the time! It's an amazing career though. I've been in the Navy for sixteen years now and wouldn’t change a thing. Lieutenant Nessa Maloney is Executive Officer and 21C of the L.E. Róisín. For more information on the Naval Service, see http://www.military.ie/naval-service.