NAVAL GENERAL SERVICE MEDAL MINESWEEPING CLASP (Hansard, 11 February 1994)

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Viscount Cranborne)

The criterion for the award of the "Minesweeping 1945–51" clasp to the Naval General Service Medal (NGSM) was defined in 1952 as "for minesweeping service afloat" in a number of qualifying areas between 3 September 1945 and a variety of terminal dates appropriate to the areas. The time qualification was defined as being six months (180 days). Time spent in Home, Atlantic and Mediterranean waters between 9 May 1945 and 2 September 1945 could also be counted towards the qualifying period of six months.

The transfer of the Royal Navy's medal issuing task from Bath to Gosport in the 1970s appears to have resulted in the loss of records associated with the criterion for the issue of this clasp to the NGSM. Consequently, a new interpretation evolved, possibly based on the stricter criterion for the award of the Bomb and Mine Clearance clasp to the NGSM for service ashore which was authorised at the same time as the Minesweeping clasp: it became the practice to issue the Minesweeping clasp only to claimants who could be proved to have carried out 180 days of actual minesweeping and, although it was in some cases possible to determine eligibility by reference to payment of a minesweeping allowance, this did not cover minesweeping activities in Far Eastern waters.

The interpretation of the criterion used in recent years has been challenged by disappointed minesweeping veterans and a comprehensive investigation into their complaints has therefore been undertaken. It has proved impossible to establish how the criterion came to be redefined as requiring 180 days of actual minesweeping and it has now been decided to revert to the original 1952 criterion of six months (180 days) of minesweeping service afloat in the prescribed qualifying areas between the appropriate dates. Minesweeping service afloat is taken to mean service, in any capacity, abroad a vessel commissioned for mine counter-measure duties.

Any naval minesweeping veteran who has not previously received this award but believes he is eligible should write to the Ministry of Defence, HMS Centurion (NPP(Acs)), Grange Road, Gosport, Hants., P013 9XA. Awards will also be issued posthumously, once eligibility is confirmed, in response to applications from next of kin.