Homecoming for Portsmouth men who made Suez Canal safe in 1974
Three of the ships from the task force – the minelayer HMS Abdiel and the minehunters HM Ships Wilton and Maxton – arrived in Portsmouth after seven months in Suez, and the ships’ companies described their dangerous task as ‘just routine’.
During the operation, divers from the ships and a fourth, HMS Bossington with the Royal Navy’s fleet clearance diving team, had helped to make the Suez Canal safe for the world’s shipping.
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Hide AdCommander David Husband, Commanding Officer of the task force, said items detected and removed from the canal ranged from tin cans to tanks. They included anti-personnel mines the size of a finger and bombs of up to 1,000lb – the debris from the war-torn Middle East.
After working in temperatures of more than 100C, the three ships arrived in Portsmouth to a warm welcome by families and an official welcome from the navy minister Frank Judd.