he crew of LÉ William Butler Yeats are making final preparations at the Naval Service headquarters in Co Cork ahead of the ship's departure on a six-week deployment to the Mediterranean.
They will join an EU operation to enforce the United Nations' arms embargo on Libya.
Previous deployments of Irish Naval Service personnel and ships have focused on humanitarian operations, including rescuing migrants.
The primary role of this mission will be to prevent arms trafficking to Libya and to block the export of oil and oil products from the country in order to bolster a peace process there.
Captain of the LÉ William Butler Yeats, Lieutenant Commander Alan Flynn told RTÉ's News at One that the operation is a multinational one.
"Once we get down to the Mediterranean, our taskings will be to survey and gather intelligence on merchant traffic flowing into and out of Libya.
"It's a multinational operation involving navies from around western Europe. There's plenty of other vessels and aircraft working alongside us," he said, adding that the crew have stop and board powers if required.
He said that once they have a reasonable suspicion that there are violations, they get the consent of the vessels concerned and the consent of their home nations and once they have that they can visit, board and inspect those vessels.
"I feel we're in a good place in terms of our preparations. Our personnel have been well trained and well briefed. We're well equipped and motivated.
"We're a professional outfit. We take the tasks seriously and we have been well prepped," Lieutenant Commander Flynn added.
LÉ William Butler Yeats will travel with a crew of 53 men and five women. Most of the crew will be on their first overseas deployment.
The vessel will leave Haulbowline in Cork Harbour on Thursday and will return on 30 July.
Its deployment is part of Operation Irini, which was launched by the European Union in March 2020, to enforce the UN arms embargo on Libya.
The mission is mandated to conduct inspections of vessels that are suspected to be carrying arms off the coast of Libya.
It will also monitor and gather information on violations of the arms embargo.
Operation Irini is headquartered in Rome, where three Defence Forces personnel have already been deployed.