HMY HELGA

HMY Helga's two 12pounder guns pounded the city of Dublin during the Easter Rising. Originally built in Dublin she sailed up the Liffey and shelled the area around Boland's Mill before moving onto Liberty Hall and the city centre. After the rising she was used in submarine detection and involved in the rescue of nearly 100 passengers from HMS Leinster which had been torpedoed by a U Boat. In 1923 she became one of the first vessels in the Irish Free State Navy and renamed The Muirchu, She sank off the Saltee Islands in 1947.