She was named after Deirdre, a tragic heroine from Irish mythology who committed suicide after her lover's murder.

[citation needed] Deirdre undertook a number of search and rescue operations throughout her careers.

For example, Deirdre was one of the vessels involved in the 1979 Fastnet race rescue operations, assisting the crews of two yachts.

[3][4] By the time of the vessel's naval decommissioning in early 2001, Deirdre had travelled approximately 450,000 nautical miles.

[8] Substantially complete, she arrived at Jacksonville, Florida in September 2012 for final outfitting as Santa Rita I.