Sir, – I hope that the pen is still mightier than the sword. But, if we must have armed naval vessels then, rather than name them after poets and writers, would it not be more apt to name them after Irish people who worked on the technologies of war? People such as John Philip Holland from Liscannor, who developed the modern submarine; Louis Brennan from Castlebar, who invented the first guided missile; Sir Charles Parsons from Birr, whose turbines powered gunships; or Sir Howard Grubb from Dublin, who invented a submarine periscope and telescopic gunsights. – Yours, etc,
MARY MULVIHILL,
Ingenious Ireland,
Manor Street,
Dublin 7.
A chara, – Is this about naval vessels or navel-gazing? – Is mise,
LOMAN Ó LOINGSIGH,
Ellensborough Drive,
Kiltipper Road,
Dublin 24.