Editing Irish Naval Service (section)

=== The Emergency - Marine and Coastwatching Service ===
[[File:M1 Irish Motor Torpedo Boat.jpg|thumb|M1 Irish motor torpedo boat]]

On the outbreak of World War Two in September 1939, referred to as [[The Emergency (Ireland)|The Emergency]] in Ireland, the government established the Marine and Coastwatching Service, later renamed the Marine Service in 1942.<ref name="history1"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.coastmonkey.ie/irish-torpedo-boats-in-the-1940s/|title=Irish torpedo boats in the 1940s|publisher=Coast Monkey Media|access-date=6 December 2017|date=29 August 2017|archive-date=6 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171206201318/https://www.coastmonkey.ie/irish-torpedo-boats-in-the-1940s/|url-status=live}}</ref> That May the government had ordered two [[motor torpedo boat]]s (MTBs) from [[Vosper & Company|Vosper Thorneycroft]]. In order to present a more credible neutrality the government ordered an additional four boats later that year.<ref name="history2"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mariner.ie/irish-naval-service-the-birth/|title=Irish Naval Service – The Birth|date=26 March 2012|publisher=[[National Maritime Museum of Ireland]]|access-date=6 December 2017|archive-date=6 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171206210317/https://www.mariner.ie/irish-naval-service-the-birth/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=MacCarron|first1=Donal|title=The Irish Defence Forces since 1922|date=2004|publisher=[[Osprey Publishing]]|isbn=9781841767420|page=19}}</ref>
In June 1940, one of the MTBs was involved in a serious breach of Irish neutrality, when the crew who were in Southampton to collect the boat decided to assist in evacuating Allied soldiers during the [[Dunkirk evacuation]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/price-of-fighting-in-the-second-world-war-1.673514|title=Price of fighting in the second World War|date=6 November 2010|newspaper=[[The Irish Times]]|issn=0791-5144|location=Dublin|language=en|access-date=12 September 2020|quote=The [motor torpedo boat] crew made two trips across the English Channel, rescuing French and British soldiers|archive-date=13 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211213160344/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/price-of-fighting-in-the-second-world-war-1.673514|url-status=live}}</ref>
A naval reserve, the [[Maritime Inscription]], was established with over 1,000 men in twelve companies to provide port security.<ref>{{cite book|last=Duggan|first=John P.|title=A History of the Irish Army|year=1991|publisher=Gill & Macmillan|isbn=0-7171-1957-2|page=187}}</ref> The closed Royal Navy base at [[Haulbowline#Naval history|Haulbowline]] in Cork harbour was re-opened in 1940 to serve as the base for the Service. By 1941, the Service had about 300 all ranks, with the six MTBs joined by the ''Muirchú'', ''Fort Rannock'', the minelayer ''Shark'', and sail training vessel ''Isaalt''. During the Emergency, these ships served as Ireland's navy, regulating merchant ships, protecting fisheries, and laying mines in Cork and Waterford harbours.<ref name="history3">{{cite web|url=https://www.military.ie/naval-service/history|website=defence.ie|title=History {{!}} Naval Service {{!}} Defence Forces|access-date=12 February 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110517021317/https://www.military.ie/naval-service/history|archive-date=17 May 2011}}</ref>