IIRC it was summer 1976 when a Grimsod found the Kiev on her first sortie into the Med.
For weeks up until then, Morning Prayers almost always contained the phrase, or words to the effect of: "When we pull out of Malta".
On the Monday following the discovery, and photography, of the Kiev, there was a subtle change to the phraseology which then became: "If we pull out of Malta".
I was fortunate to have been brought up there and we had a load of Maltese friends. When I met them in 1976, the most common question I received was: "Tell me it's not true that the UK is leaving the Island!"