LÉ Aisling

LÉ Aisling (Irish pronunciation: [ˈaʃl̠ʲəɲ]; meaning "[poetic] dream, vision"), now known as Al-Karama, was a patrol vessel in the Irish Naval Service from 1980 to 2016. She was built in Verolme Dockyard, Cork, Ireland in 1979 and originally named after Patrick Pearse's poem, "Aisling" to commemorate the centenary of his birth. During her career, Aisling participated in the Sonia and Marita Ann incidents, and was one of the first ships to arrive on the scene of the Air India Flight 182 disaster, and subsequently participated in recovery operations. She was the adopted ship of Galway, and officially decommissioned in her adopted city in June 2016. In March 2017, stripped of arms and armaments, she was sold to a Dutch broker, and in May 2018 a United Arab Emirates company sold her to Khalifa Haftar's internationally unrecognised Libyan National Army, in violation of a UN arms embargo. She was reportedly commissioned as the Libyan National Army's flagship and named Al-Karama (dignity).