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15th June 2014
07:00pm BST

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.
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