She’s 90 metres long and 23 knots is her top speed,” explains Lieutenant Commander Grace Fanning, as she leads Irish Country Living to the bridge of the LE Samuel Beckett.

“But she’s still not as nice as a tractor!”

And it soon becomes clear that while you may take the woman out of the farm – in this case to the Irish Naval Base in Haulbowline, Co Cork – you can’t take the farm out of the woman.

Indeed, any time Grace has returned from four-week stints at sea in the past, one of the first things she’s done is hop in the car and hit the road for the family farm in Co Carlow.

“Just to get back to earth,” explains Grace, whose recent promotion has left her just one step shy of becoming a captain in the Irish Navy at just 34 years of age.

AN ADVENTURE

One of eight children raised on a mixed farm in Ballon by her parents, John and Mary Fanning, Grace says it is a running joke in the family that she was the “middle child shipped off to the navy”.

Indeed, her heart was originally set on studying agricultural science in UCD, but when her mother – who grew up on the Curragh – suggested a cadetship with the Defence Forces, Grace was sold.

“I decided the navy was an adventure,” she explains. “I used to think I was an action woman – I still kind of do – and I’m into tractors and machinery and these ships are cool when you’re that age.”

However, she feels that her agricultural background gave her an edge during training, as it meant she was no stranger to discipline or hard work. After three months in the Curragh, she was dispatched to Haulbowline to study everything from navigation maths to physics, and later to NUI Galway, where she completed a degree in science.

Since then, she has held a number of positions, including navigation officer on the LE Roisin, gunnery officer on the LE Eithne and executive officer on both the LE Aoife and LE Eithne, with stints at sea that have ranged from patrolling Irish waters to diplomatic missions as far as the Baltic, the United States and Asia.

Indeed, on the latter, she recalls one of her most challenging experiences after hitting the tail end of a typhoon on the south China Sea, where the waves were “bigger than the ship”.

“I don’t think I ate for four days,” she says of the stomach-churning crossing, during which she was stationed as bridge watch keeper.

“You’re in charge of 44, 46 lives down below,” she continues when we ask how she kept her cool in such a situation. “Show no fear and just go on with it; even if you’re panicking on the inside.”

PROTECTING IRELAND

As she talks through her roles, it’s clear just how varied her responsibilities have been, from charting routes through tides and weather warnings and overseeing weaponry like the powerful OTO Melara 76mm canon, to operating as the captain’s right-hand officer and even serving in the Lebanon for six months. Her current role sees her on base as both military police officer and physical education officer, where she oversees her colleagues’ fitness training.

“Similar to what you’d be doing on the farm,” jokes Grace, who in her own right is an accomplished marathon runner and was capped for Ireland after scoring the winning goal against England when the Irish Defence Forces Women beat the RAF in soccer 2-1 in 2013.

Her pride in the work of the Irish Navy is evident: “To protect Ireland and to protect Irish people,” as she states- but also in monitoring the fisheries and patrolling against crimes like drug trafficking.

The camaraderie on board is also clear, and while just 6% of the Irish Defence Forces are female, she has never had an issue earning the respect of her colleagues.

“People know that I will work hard for them as long as they work hard for me,” says Grace, who would like to see more young women consider a career with the navy.

But, of course, the job is not without its challenges, not least that most patrol missions in Irish waters last four weeks at a time; where you are essentially cut off from loved ones for days on end once you lose your own mobile phone signal.

“You could be two weeks without actually ringing home before you come back in towards land,” she says of the challenges of keeping in touch, as well as missing events like birthdays, christenings, communions or a neighbour’s funeral.

“Just the day-to-day things,” she says, “but it gets to you: it does.”

This is especially true since Grace tied the knot in 2016 with her wife, Carol, a nurse. Growing up in rural Ireland, Grace explains how when it came to sexuality, she knew she was “different”, but when she came out in her earlier 20s, her parents and family “couldn’t have been more supportive”.

Indeed, she beams with pride as she recalls how her father drove her to her wedding in a “brand new John Deere” from Templetuohy Farm Machinery.

And while it’s Grace’s ambition to become a captain in the Irish Navy, she would like to return to the land some day in the longer term. Because, while she might sail the seven seas, there’s still no place like home… CL

For further information, visit http://www.military.ie/naval-service/