page_title: LÉ Aoife (P22)
section_title: Maltese service
hierarchical_section_title: LÉ Aoife (P22) / Operational history / Maltese service
caption_attribution_description: Malta-mix- 2019
context_page_description: LÉ Aoife (P22) of the Irish Naval Service, now known as P62 of the Maritime Squadron of the Armed Forces of Malta, was built as an offshore patrol vessel in 1978.
  Serving the Irish Naval Service since 1979, Aoife was decommissioned by Ireland in 2015, and donated to the Armed Forces of Malta. It was commissioned as the patrol boat P62 on 28 June 2015, and is currently Malta's largest naval vessel.
context_section_description: Aoife was commissioned into the Maritime Squadron of the Armed Forces of Malta on 28 June 2015, and given the pennant number P62. It is the largest vessel in the Maritime Squadron, being larger than the flagship, the Diciotti-class offshore patrol boat P61. It arrived in Malta in November 2015, intended initially for use in humanitarian operations in the Mediterranean.
  On 24 May 2019, P62 was involved in the recovery of a WWII aircraft engine off the Grand Harbour. The engine, most probably that of a Short Sunderland flying boat, was retrieved after a 14 hour operation.
  In early February 2020, the ship participated in a joint training operation with the Royal Netherlands Navy which involved various scenarios at sea. She was joined by the Dutch Frigate HNLMS De Ruyter. An Armed Forces of Malta AW139 was also involved in the exercise, joined in the air by a Dutch NH90.
caption: P62 at Hay Wharf, Malta
exif: {"Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D90", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "DxO PhotoLab 2.3.2", "Image DateTime": "2019:10:28 11:51:52", "Image Artist": "Ra Boe", "Image Copyright": "(CC-BY-SA-3.0 DE)", "Image ExifOffset": "242", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 2, 0, 0]", "GPS GPSLatitudeRef": "N", "GPS GPSLatitude": "[35, 537573/10000, 0]", "GPS GPSLongitudeRef": "E", "GPS GPSLongitude": "[14, 3751/125, 0]", "GPS GPSAltitudeRef": "0", "GPS GPSAltitude": "4", "GPS GPSTimeStamp": "[9, 47, 45]", "GPS GPSSatellites": "10", "GPS GPSImgDirectionRef": "M", "GPS GPSImgDirection": "3861/20", "GPS GPSMapDatum": "", "GPS GPSDate": "2019:10:28", "Image GPSInfo": "13532", "Image DateTimeOriginal": "2019:10:28 11:51:52", "Image Tag 0x9216": "[1, 0, 0, 0]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "13918", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "8087", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/200", "EXIF FNumber": "14", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Unidentified", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0231", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2019:10:28 11:51:52", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2019:10:28 11:51:52", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "16030327/2097152", "EXIF ApertureValue": "761471/100000", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "39/10", "EXIF SubjectDistance": "15/2", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "26", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3848", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2556", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[0, 2, 0, 2, 1, 2, 0, 1]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "39", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0", "EXIF BodySerialNumber": "6722361", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[16, 300, 7/2, 63/10]", "EXIF LensModel": "TAMRON AF 16-300mm F3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD B016N"}