LÉ Orla

LÉ Orla

LÉ Orla

Description

LÉ Orla, pennant number P41, is one of the five completed Peacock-class corvettes, originally built for Royal Navy use as HMS Swift (P243). Commissioned in 1985, she served in the waters around Hong Kong as part of the 6th Patrol Craft Squadron with the others of her class, undertaking training, search-and-rescue, and policing operations. In 1988, she was sold to the Irish Naval Service and renamed. She acted as a high-speed patrol vessel until her eventual decommission on 8 July 2022, to be replaced by new inshore patrol vessels purchased from New Zealand.

Introduced in Update "Direct Hit", LÉ Orla has some nifty features; namely, the reliable 76 mm OTO-Melara Compact automatic gun, a unique punch of naval power for the veteran British captains in the coastal fleet and fans of the HMS Peacock's dexterity, but also the addition of lighter yet useful auxiliary armament, in two sets of 20 mm/65 Rheinmetall autocannons on each side of the ship with a menacing fire rate and distinct sound. Much like her sister ship, Orla's playstyle is very dependent on her sole bow gun. Despite seeming like not enough firepower, she can be used to great effect in providing air defence and medium-range support against lighter crafts, defence of captured points, and can even combat destroyers by targeting their weakspots.

General info

Survivability and armour

As a larger coastal vessel, the LÉ Orla has a detailed damage model; this alone renders her hull impervious to most machine guns and autocannon fire from the PT boats it commonly faces. Though the ship has a low crew count of only 39, they are mostly located in a compact compartment at the stern and the engine room, and so are quite hard to hit. However, Orla inherits the same unarmoured bridge and turret weakness from her sister HMS Peacock and so these will be your obvious weakspots, as enough shots fired at these modules will inevitably disable them, causing crew loss that could be repeated over and over again if the enemy manages to disable them as soon as they are repaired.

Mobility

LÉ Orla's mobility is not great amongst the highly manoeuvrable fast attack crafts and torpedo boats of her rank. This should not be seen as a condemning drawback, but instead as an opportunity for a different paced gameplay: letting the enemies reach the LÉ Orla and not oppositely.

In this ship, the reverse speed plays an important role. As firing and then retreating behind a smokescreen are key in LÉ Orla's survival. Unfortunately, the reverse speed is not excellent but only just proper enough to retreat before the corvette gets destroyed. Thankfully, research of mobility modules is not an issue due to the premium status of the ship, hence the mobility concern will be alleviated.

Keep in mind LÉ Orla is a huge corvette which spawns amongst patrol boats, this could be a problem on some maps as the shallow waters with rocky formations will often hit the ship and accidentally reduce the crew size. Notice the shallow water alert in the centre of the screen to change course immediately.

Mobility Characteristics
Game Mode	Upgrade Status	Maximum Speed (km/h)		Turn Time (s)	Turn Radius (m)
		Forward	Reverse
AB	Stock	___	___
	Upgraded
RB/SB	Stock	___	___
	Upgraded

Armament

Primary armament

LÉ Orla is armed with a single main 76 mm/62 OTO-Melara Compact Gun, located at the bow of the ship. Despite being armed with a single 76 mm gun, the quick reload of only 0.8 seconds allows for a lot of damage in just an instant. The HE shell is composed of a powerful explosive mass of 1.08 kg of TNT. This single gun is not capable of hullbreaking any boat, but the explosive damage and the high rate of fire are more than enough to fend other threats at the rank.

The gun offers satisfactory firing range, up to 6,000 m. However, firing at such distances is not advised due to the very limited ammo count. The ammo count of 115 shells is sufficient to destroy numerous small boats, as 1-3 shots will be enough. But long-distance engagements and destroyers will require a lot more of ammunition, leaving the ship unable to defend or with reduced efficiency. As once the ready-use ammo of 85 shells is fired, the remaining ammo will be fired at a much slower rate.

The turret mounting is highly mobile and provides adequate targeting speed, something beneficial for the reduced ship's mobility.

Ammunition

Due to the scarcity of ammo for all types of threats, the HE-VT ammo should replace the regular HE. Consider arming the ship with SAP and HE-VT for more effective defence to fend off some planes; HE-VT being the main ammo and SAP the auxiliary for armoured encounters.

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
		100 m	1,000 m	2,000 m	3,000 m	4,000 m	5,000 m
76/62 HE-MOM	HE	15	15	15	15	15	15
76/62 SAPOM	SAP	60	49	40	32	26	21
76/62 HE-VT MOM	HE-VT*	15	15	15	15	15	15

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile mass (kg)	Fuse delay (s)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g)	Ricochet
							0%	50%	100%
76/62 HE-MOM	HE	925	6.35	0	0.1	1,080	79°	80°	81°
76/62 SAPOM	SAP	925	6.35	0.01	4	655.2	47°	60°	65°

Proximity-fused shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Arming distance (m)	Trigger radius (m)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g)	Ricochet
									0%	50%	100%
76/62 HE-VT MOM	HE-VT*	925	6.35	0	0.1	500	6	1,080	79°	80°	81°

Secondary armament

Unlike her sister ship, Orla has access to a pair of 20 mm Rh 202 autocannons mounted in a single mount flanking the upper superstructure. The guns have very high rate of fire of 800 rpm and access to various high-velocity shell options (including powerful APDS rounds), making them easy to use and aim. These can be used as a backup weapon in case your 76 mm autocannons were disabled or to counter fast-moving enemy vessels and aircraft. However, trigger discipline is vital for using this weapon, as it can overheat very quickly in just a 2 second burst.

• Universal: HEFI-T* · HVAP-T · HEFI-T* · HVAP-T
• 20 mm HEIT belts: HEFI-T* · HEFI-T* · HEFI-T* · HEFI-T* · HVAP-T
• API-T: HVAP-T · HVAP-T · HVAP-T · HVAP-T · HEFI-T*
• 20 mm APDS belts: APDS

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
	10 m	100 m	500 m	1,000 m	1,500 m	2,000 m
HEFI-T*	3	3	3	3	3	3
HVAP-T	35	32	23	15	9	6
APDS	66	61	45	31	21	14

Shell details
Ammunition	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g)	Ricochet
						0%	50%	100%
HEFI-T*	1,100	0.13	0	0.1	27.2	79°	80°	81°
HVAP-T	1,100	0.11	-	-	-	66°	70°	72°
APDS	1,150	0.13	-	-	-	75°	78°	80°

Anti-aircraft armament

For additional close-range defence, Orla has four FN MAG machine guns mounted in a twin mounts at the stern. These guns do not deal much damage against even small PT boats, though they can be useful in tandem with the 20 mm autocannons against inbound aircraft.

Usage in battles

Describe the technique of using this ship, the characteristics of her use in a team and tips on strategy. Abstain from writing an entire guide – don't try to provide a single point of view, but give the reader food for thought. Talk about the most dangerous opponents for this vehicle and provide recommendations on fighting them. If necessary, note the specifics of playing with this vehicle in various modes (AB, RB, SB).

Pros and cons

Pros:

• The 76 mm cannon offers high rate of fire, powerful HE damage and long firing range (6,000 m)
• Multipurpose main armament ammunition (HE-VT, HE and SAP)
• Radar capacities with a lead indicator for anti-air duties; great detection range
• Guns ballistics are adequate and precise; easy to fire and accustom
• Crew size is decent versus small boats, slightly superior than HMS Peacock
• 20 mm high-velocity autocannons are capable of countering aircraft and small boats

Cons:

• Low ammo count for main gun; easily depleted without trigger discipline
• Large and slow target for the faster and smaller patrol boats
• Unarmoured bridge and turret will be frequently knocked out by incoming fire, slowly bleeds the ship's crew away
• Flat trajectory of the gun's shell hinders fire behind cover; LÉ Orla bow must be exposed
• Secondary 20 mm autocannon overheats very quickly

History

The LÉ Orla was a former British Royal Navy patrol vessel stationed in the waters of Hong Kong, called the HMS Swift.

She was purchased by the Irish State in 1988 and given the name of LÉ Orla. The name of Orla is taken from Irish history, being a popular Irish name in the 12th Century. Orla also has a strong connection with a historical Irish king, Brian Boru, whom has a sister and niece that shared the name Orla.

The LÉ Orla's is famous for its participation in two drug seizure operations in Irish water. The first was in 1993, when the LÉ Orla intercepted and boarded a 65 ft ketch named Brime, which was the largest cannabis seizure in Ireland. The second was in 2008 which LÉ Orla assisted in the seizure of cocaine.

The LÉ Orla was decommissioned on 8 July 2022.

Media

Skins

• Skins and camouflages for the LÉ Orla from live.warthunder.com.

See also

Links to articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

• reference to the series of the ship;
• links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

External links

References

Citations

Bibliography

• Associated Press, The. "Irish navy, coast guard seize flotilla of cocaine." Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 03 Jul. 2007, Website. Accessed 17 Sep. 2021 (Archive).
• Irish Defence Forces. "LÉ ÓRLA P41." Irish Defence Forces, Website. Accessed 17 Sep. 2021 (Archive).
• O'Riordan, Sean. "Manpower crisis may leave two ships docked." Irish Examiner, 15 Jan. 2020, Website. Accessed 17 Sep. 2021 (Archive).

Hall, Russell & Company
Corvettes
Peacock-class	HMS Peacock · LÉ Orla*
	*HMS Swift in Irish service

Britain premium ships
Motor torpedo boats	MTB-1(2) · MTB-422 · Fairmile D (5001) · HMS Gay Archer
Motor gun boats	MGB-75 · SGB Grey Goose
Gunboats	HMS Spey
Sub-chasers	LÉ Orla
Frigates	HMS Whitby
Destroyers	HMS Montgomery · HMS Valhalla · HMS Verdun · ORP Garland · HMS Jervis · HMCS Haida · HMS Mohawk · HMS Cadiz · HMS Diamond
Light cruisers	HMS Belfast
Battleships	HMS Iron Duke