Ah, built an Airfix model of Manxman many years ago, tiny little thing, but my Dad reckoned it was one of the fastest ships in the Navy, kit instructions certainly seemed to confirm that. 40+ knots? Amazing. Believe sister ship was Abdiel, were there any others? The Abdiel class of fast minelayers consisted of 6 ships: Abdiel (lost 9/9/43), Latona (lost 25/10/41), Manxman, Welshman (lost 1/2/43), Ariadne and Apollo. Some of the classes best known actions involved running supplies to Tobruk and Malta. Abdiel class minelayer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The series Warship Profile also did an issue of the class which has some great pictures in it.
