HMS Counterguard
Suez November 1956
By John Holland

I was the telegraphist aboard the LCT (Landing Craft Tank) HMS Counterguard. Each LCT carried one telegraphist and one signalman amongst a crew of thirty-four. The crew of the Counterguard assembled at Portsmouth Barracks (HMS Victory) prior to our train journey to join the ship at HM Dockyard Barry – South Wales. I’m not certain if all the LCT crews joined in the same way and at the same place. I do recall, however, that our ship had to be towed to HM Dockyard Devonport due to the fact that our engines were not functioning. The ships were cocooned and in mothballs and as I recall I couldn’t even get into the locked radio office until we got to Devonport. A lot of work had to be done before we were fit to sail.

Eventually we sailed for Malta via Gibraltar and at our destination loaded army vehicles and personnel. The passage to Suez was fairly uneventful although water rationing was imposed and this meant that dhobeying had to be done on the end of a line trailed over the ship’s side. This worked quite well for the matelots but unfortunately when the army lads tried to copy us they found that their knots weren’t as reliable as ours and many a line was hauled back inboard minus it’s original contents.

The LCTs were as follows:

HMS Bastion (L4040)

HMS Buttress (L4099)

HMS Counterguard (L4043)

HMS Parapet (L4039)

HMS Portcullis (L4044)

HMS Rampart (L4037)

HMS Redoubt (L4001)

I’m not certain of the numbers of all the LCTs but one of them was LCT 4099, another LCT 404?, and the missing number I do not know. I believe HMS Anzio (LST) was also at the landings. I would be very interested to know if anyone has a list of all the Royal Navy ships involved.