LÉ Macha

The Macha during its time in Royal Navy service, when it was known as HMS Borage (K120)
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Borage
Namesake	Borage (herb)
Builder	George Brown of Greenock
Laid down	21 November 1940
Launched	6 November 1941
Completed	29 April 1942
Decommissioned	15 November 1946
Maiden voyage	1942
Identification	Pennant number: K120
Fate	Sold to Ireland
Ireland
Name	LÉ Macha
Namesake	Macha, an ancient Irish goddess of war
Acquired	15 November 1946
Decommissioned	2 November 1970
Identification	Pennant number: 01
Fate	Sold for scrap 22 November 1970
General characteristics
Class and type	Flower-class corvette
Displacement	1020 tons standard (1280 full load)
Length	205 ft (62 m)
Beam	33 ft (10 m)
Depth	14 ft (4.3 m)
Installed power	Single reciprocating vertical 4-cylinder triple expansion by John Kincaid, Greenock.
Propulsion	2,759 ihp (2,057 kW) 2 cylindrical Scotch single-ended boilers. Single shaft
Speed	16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph) max 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) cruise
Complement	5 officers, 74 ratings
Sensors and processing systems	ASDIC Radio Radar Gyrocompass Echo sounder Decca Navigator System
Electronic warfare & decoys	Degaussing
Armament	1 × BL 4 inch Mk IX naval gun replaced in 1960 by a QF 4 inch Mk XIX naval gun 1 × QF 2 pounder naval gun 2 × Oerlikon 20 mm cannons 1 × hedgehog mortar 4 × depth-charge throwers 2 × depth-charge racks

LÉ Macha was a ship in the Irish Naval Service. Built as a Flower-class corvette of the Royal Navy named HMS Borage, she was transferred on 15 November 1946 to the Irish Naval Service and renamed LÉ Macha after Macha, an ancient Irish goddess of war.

HMS Borage

She served as escort for the Arctic convoys from 1942-1945 before being sold to Ireland.

LÉ Macha

Ship's crest of the Macha, depicting the Tara Brooch and Red Hand of Ulster.

In September 1948, she had the honour of carrying the remains of William Butler Yeats from France to Drumcliffe, County Sligo, for reburial.^[1] There was a funeral march from Nice to the ship with band, trumpeters and military honours from a company of French alpine troops. It was the first time that France rendered military honours to a civilian.^[2] The remains were received at Rocquebrune near Nice by Sean Murphy, the Irish Ambassador to France.

The voyage home took 17 days. LÉ Macha stopped en route at Gibraltar and in France. The ship returned to Galway, whence the remains were carried by hearse to their final resting place in County Sligo.^[3]

LÉ Macha was sold for scrap on 22 November 1970.

References

1. Foster, R. F. (2003). W. B. Yeats: A Life, Vol. II: The Arch-Poet 1915–1939, p. 656. New York: Oxford UP. ISBN 0-19-818465-4.
2. MacGinty, Tom (1995). The Irish Navy. Tralee: The Kerryman. p. 155. ISBN 0-946277-22-2.
3. "WB Yeats laid to rest in Drumcliffe" Archived 18 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine, The Irish Times, 18 Sept. 2009, republishing article from 18 September 1948.