§ SIR EDWARD J. REEDasked the Secretary to the Admiralty, If he is able to state what improvements in the pay, rank, and uniform of the Engineer Officers of the Royal Navy have been recently made, or are in contemplation?
§ SIR THOMAS BRASSEYWe regret that we have not been able to include in the Estimates any addition to the pay of the engineers; but the question of pay, rank, and uniform are under the consideration of the Board.
§ MR. PULESTONasked when the Report on the subject was likely to be made?
§ SIR THOMAS BRASSEYThe Report has already been made, and is under the consideration of the Naval Lords.
§ MR. W. H. SMITHasked the Secretary to the Admiralty, If he will state what armament the Admiralty now intend to place in the Benbow, Rodney, 1161 Howe, Camperdown, Edinburgh, Collingwood, Hero, Impérieuse, and Warspite, on what dates respectively the guns will be required, and the dates also on which it is now intended and expected that the ships will be ready for sea; and, whether the War Department has undertaken to supply the guns within the requisite time?
§ SIR THOMAS BRASSEYIn reply to the Question of my right hon. Friend, I have to state that the main armament of the Benbow includes two 110-ton guns and 10 6-inch guns. The guns will be required in September, 1886. The main armament of the Rodney and Howe includes four 64-ton and six 6-inch guns. The guns will be required in June, 1886. The Camperdown carries a similar armament. The guns will be required in June, 1887. The Edinburgh and Collingwood will be armed with four 43-ton guns and five and six 6-inch guns respectively. The guns will be required in June and July of this year. The Hero will be armed with two 43-ton and four 6-inch guns. The guns will be required in September, 1886. The Impérieuse and Warspite will carry four 18-ton guns and six 6-inch guns. The guns are required for the Imyérieuse in April next, and for the Warspite in March. The War Office has undertaken to supply all the guns by the time they are required. The dates proposed for the completion of the ships are approximately six months after the delivery of the guns.
§ MR. PULESTONasked the Secretary to the Admiralty, Whether his attention has been called to the letter in The Times last week from the honourable Member for Cardiff, formerly Chief Constructor of the Navy, and especially the following paragraph, viz.:—
I will here repeat in the most public and responsible manner that the Ajax, Agamemnon, Colossus, and Edinburgh, and the six ships of the Admiral class, are all utterly unfit to engage the corresponding French ships: unfit to enter the line of battle at all; unfit to be retained on the list of armoured ships; and I demand that they be at least afforded protection against that swift destruction from the fire of the smallest guns afloat which now awaits them; if this be not done, then upon the heads of the present Board of Admiralty must continue to rest, after this public warning, the responsibility of delivering 10 British ships of the largest class an easy and certain prey to destruction should war arise;and, what course the Government intend to take with respect to those ships?
§ SIR THOMAS BRASSEYThe Board of Admiralty do not concur with the opinion expressed by the hon. Member for Cardiff in a recent letter to The Times with reference to the fighting qualities of the ships built by successive Boards of Admiralty, which he enumerates. The course which the Government intend to take is to do all in their power to complete five ships rapidly, and to make them thoroughly effective vessels of war.