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Commander Iain Henderson on the Royal Navy’s mine hunting capabilities and how they came in handy to the US Navy. (RNM)

Transcript: “They really did do a remarkable job. I don’t think its ever been realised how good a job they did, because although they had supposedly some protection from ships -Gloucester and ourselves, I mean, my missile system is quite short range and I was not able really to afford them any protection. Gloucester could, but I mean for the number of Hunts that were ploughing up and down, they were incredibly exposed and they did an absolutely brilliant job. But I think one of the very good lessons learned was that, the Americans certainly, who have I think over the period of history tended to rely on, you know, ‘biggest is best’ and ‘we’ll just roll over the enemy’, but actually mines aren’t very big, and there’s lots of them and they will sink the biggest ship and actually, mine hunting is a very important part of your inventory. And certainly, they would have been really stymied without the Hunts. And I think really, that was one of the best things that come out of the Gulf War.”

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