Abukir: Not much information about this ship has been found so far. The Abukir was an Egyptian Frigate which was one of approximately 40 ships which were sunk in the Suez Canal in 1956 as a block-ship when, then President Gamal Abdel Nasser, nationalized the canal in response to the United States government's decision not to provide funding for the construction of the Aswan Dam. The Abukir was ladened with explosives and sunk at kilometer 160.7 (the southern entrance to the canal at Suez) and was the last ship to be raised and removed from the canal by the UN salvage team in 1957 under the command of Lt. Gen. Raymond A. Wheeler. "A governing factor in the execution of the early phase of the work was the time required for the removal of the cement-laden blockship Akka at km. 81.4 and the concurrent removal, inter alia, of the tug Edgar Bonnet at km. 74.2 and the frigate Abukir at km. 160.7. Although the general designated programme was finished several weeks ahead of schedule in the southern reaches, a first limited channel was not opened within the planned time- limit because of the notification by Egyptian authorities of the existence of explosives aboard the two latter vessels. The blockship Akka was removed from the channel on 14 February 1957, but clearance to proceed with work on the Edgar Bonnet was given by Egyptian authorities only on 12 March. Explosive charges on the Abukir were found to be largely inaccessible for underwater removal and the attempt was ultimately abandoned and salvage work resumed by United Nations crews on the vessel on 22 March. It was finally raised and the remaining explosives removed to the surface on 8 April."                                                       United Nations General Assembly Official Records Agenda Item 64 Photo of the blockade of the Suez Canal in Port Said Below is an excerpt from The Times dated 09 April 1957: Large ships use Suez Canal again: The Suez Canal was open to ships up to 20,000 tons today after U.N. salvage crews cleared the water of the last obstacle left from the Suez Crisis. "While whistles shrilled and hundreds of persons watched from the banks, U.N. salvage crews raised and towed away the sunken Egyptian frigate Abukir yesterday. That cleared the channel for all shipping adapted to its 34-foot depth. The Egyptian Suez Canal Authority gave no indication when capacity operation would be resumed. Before the canal was blocked, ships of about 40,000 tons could go through."