surplus/time-expired ammunition which was loaded onto landing craft for dumping in deep water. Ammunition being transported by rail, had their trucks labelled with the address, "Davy Jones' Locker, Cairnryan". Handling and disposal was carried out by 13 Coy Royal Pioneer Corps, based at the army camp (now a holiday campsite) behind the Loch Ryan Hotel. In 1957 and 1958, Cairnryan Lighterage Wharf and the port/jetty were again used in a joint Army/RAF operation called 'Operation Hardrock'. This operation was to build a rocket-tracking station on the remote island of St Kilda, serving the South Uist Missile Range, from where the 'MGM-5 Corporal' missiles were launched. The civil engineering work, involving an accommodation block and a winding road to the island's highest point, where the rocket-tracking building was built, was carried out by the RAF's 5004 Airfield Construction Squadron. Personnel, plant and other equipment was transported between the pier, Cairnryan and St. Kilda, using RASC Landing Craft Tanks, operated by 76 Squadron RASC, based at Portsmouth. Military port activity ceased in the early 1960s, when the whole military infrastructure, such as the cranes and the railway line, were abandoned, then dismantled, apart from the pier and lighterage wharf themselves. In the late 1960s, ship breaking became the main industry. The British aircraft carriers HMS Centaur, HMS Bulwark, HMS Eagle, and HMS Ark Royal were all sent for breaking up, as well as a number of other vessels, including HMS Mohawk and HMS Blake. The trawler Ross Revenge was awaiting scrapping in 1980, when the Radio Caroline organisation bought the ship for their new offshore radio station. In July 1973, Townsend Thoresen started a ro-ro ferry service, from the Lighterage Wharf in Cairnryan, to Larne for passengers and cars, using the ship Ionic Ferry. Later, the service was extended to commercial vehicles. In 1987, Townsend Thoresen was rebranded P&O European Ferries after the 'Herald of Free Enterprise' disaster as P&O had just taken over the parent company European Ferries. Harbour Cairnryan has two ferry terminals connecting Scotland to Northern Ireland. The first, at the south of Cairnryan, opened in 1973, originally operated by Townsend Thoresen and now by P&O Ferries, links Scotland with the port of Larne. Part of this terminal utilises Cairnryan Lighterage Wharf. The second, built as a substitute for the one at Stranraer Harbour, is at Old House Point, just north of Cairnryan, opened in 2011 and is operated