LÉ Banba
Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use Hiberno-English
Template:Infobox ship imageTemplate:Infobox ship careerTemplate:Infobox ship careerTemplate:Infobox ship characteristicsLÉ Banba (CM11) was a Template:Sclass2 in the Irish Naval Service (INS) and was one of three purchased by the Irish government to replace the three Flower Class Corvettes purchased in 1946. The other two were Template:Ship and Template:Ship.<ref name=eircom>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
LÉ Banba was named after Banba, a legendary queen of the Tuatha Dé Danann and also a poetic name for Ireland. The ship was the former Royal Navy vessel Template:HMS.
Handover
The name Banba was originally allocated to be borne by one of the six Template:Sclass2s ordered in 1946, but only three were delivered and the name was not used. On 22 February 1971, the former Alverton was handed over to the INS, and commissioned on 23 February by Lt. Cdr. Deasy at Gibraltar.<ref name="moms"/>
Following her commissioning, Banba, in company with Fola, worked up in the Western Mediterranean so that they could complete Harbour Acceptance Trials and Sea Acceptance Trials. On 20 March both ships left the Mediterranean for home, however on the way a storm blew up forcing them to take refuge in Lisbon.<ref name="moms"/> The two newest additions to the Navy finally arrived on 29 March 1971.
In 1984 Banba was decommissioned and sold on to Spanish interests for breaking.
References
Template:Reflist Template:Ton class minesweeper Template:Irish Naval Service Template:Post1945IrishShips