HC Deb 15 February 1884 vol 284 cc1017-8
MR. GOURLEY

asked the Secretary to the Admiralty, On what service the Polyphemus torpedo ram has been engaged since first commissioned; her total cost for hull, machinery, and other equipments; also cost for wages and provisions of the officers and crew down to date; and, if he will be good enough to state the nature and probable cost of the alterations and repairs in hull and machinery about to be entered upon, and by whom originally designed; also present and intended speed and capacity for fuel?

MR. BROADHURST

May I ask my hon. Friend whether it is within his recollection that, in a Motion which I made two years ago on fittings in war ships, the question of the misfitting of the Polyphemus was one of the strong cases I presented for the consideration of the House; and, whether the extra cost of the constant alteration of the fittings is not to some extent due to the machinery being put in place by people not trained in that special class of work?

MR. CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN

Since her commission the Polyphemus has been most usefully engaged in important experiments, especially as to the underwater discharge of torpedoes at high rates of speed, for which trials she is exceptionally well adapted. She is now about to have new boilers placed in her, instead of the locomotive boilers with which she was originally furnished, and which, for reasons which cannot be fully stated within the limits of an answer to a Question, have not proved so successful as was anticipated when the experiment of their use was decided upon. As to the particulars for which my hon. Friend asks of the cost and of certain qualities of the vessel, they will be furnished in a Return, if he will move for it. With regard to the inquiries of the hon. Member for Stoke, I believe the hon. Member did refer to this vessel; but none of the circumstances to which he had alluded bore upon the Question on the Paper. The change of boilers was the result of a change of plans.

MR. BROADHURST

Will the hon. Gentleman give me a Return of the number of times the internal machinery has been altered since her commission.

MR. CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN

I will endeavour to meet the views of my hon. Friend if he will confer with me.

MR. BROADHURST

Every detail, if you please.