My father was commanding officer of HMS Derby County and I Remember visiting the ship in Larne when I and my mother lived there in 1940. Dad often told me about the time when he was mentioned in dispatches when his ship shot down a german aircraft which was dropping magnetic mines in Belfast Lough. He ordered a boat to be launched to rescue the plane's crew and noticed that the pilot was trying to throw papers into the sea. Dad ordered the boat's crew to recover the papers which were orders to drop the mines which, at that time were causing havoc with vessels using the lough.