A Post First War Mine Clearance Service Cuff Badge 1918-1920

Great Britain; Bronze gilt, unmarked, 56.5 mm (w) x 80.7 mm (h), both lugs intact, scattered gilt wear, near extremely fine. 

Footnote: At the end of the First World War, the Admiralty appointed an International Mine Clearance Committee on which 26 countries were represented. The Supreme War Council allotted each Power an area to clear, the largest falling to Great Britain. Some 40,000 square miles of sea needed clearing. In February 1919, the Royal Navy established the Mine Clearance Service, to clear the thousands of mines laid during the conflict. It was formed with special rates of pay and conditions of service. Members of the Service wore a specific metal cuff badge and cap tally. By the end of 1919, over 23,000 Allied and 70 German mines had been swept with the loss of half a dozen minesweepers. It operated from 1918 until it was disbanded in 1920.