Lionel Crabb

Lionel Crabb (28 January 1909 – presumed dead 19 April 1956), known as Buster Crabb, was a British Royal Navy frogman and MI6 diver who vanished during a reconnaissance mission around a Soviet cruiser berthed at Portsmouth Dockyard in 1956.

Early life

Crabb was born in 1909 in Streatham, South London. He was the son of Hugh Alexander Crabb and Beatrice Goodall. After his father's death in 1918, his mother remarried and the family moved to Southampton, where Crabb developed a love for the sea.

Military career

Crabb joined the Merchant Navy and the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve before World War II. During the war, he served in the Royal Navy as a mine and bomb disposal expert. He was awarded the George Medal for his work in Gibraltar and also received the British Empire Medal.

Post-war career

After the war, Crabb was demobilised from the Navy and joined the Underwater Detection Establishment in Portland. He also worked for MI6, the British Secret Service, as a diver.

Disappearance

On 19 April 1956, Crabb dived into Portsmouth Harbour to investigate the hull of the Soviet cruiser Ordzhonikidze that had brought Nikita Khrushchev and Nikolai Bulganin on a diplomatic mission to Britain. He failed to return from the mission and was declared missing, presumed dead.

Legacy

The disappearance of Lionel Crabb has been the subject of much speculation and conspiracy theories. It remains one of the most enduring mysteries of the Cold War era.

See also

• List of people who disappeared mysteriously at sea
• Cold War
• Frogman
• MI6

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