Serving and former members of the Royal Marines, a couple of weeks ago, staged a re-enactment, Exercise Itchy Blanket, of Operation Frankton – and the men who became known as the Cockleshell Heroes. They came complete with WWII kit, kayaks, and (inert) limpet mines down the Thames to place them on HMS Belfast before a crowd.
Over 80 years ago, ten marines set out on a mission to paddle right up to Nazi ships undetected and blow them up in port, and just two of them were able to exilftrate back home.
To mark the extraordinary operation, today’s marines paddled their folding ‘yaks down the Thames to the side of HMS Belfast in the heart of London and placed mock limpet mines to her side. The expedition was not only to remember the heroics of the operation, but also to raise money for a plaque to David Moffatt, one of the men involved in the original Op Frankton.
