§ Mr. AUSTIN TAYLOR (Liverpool, E. Toxteth)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Admiralty, whether, before any more of the older types of battleships are broken up or otherwise disposed of, he will consider the advisability of utilising some of these ships as floating forts, provided with modern guns and manned by Naval Volunteers, for the defence of mercantile ports such as Liverpool, Glasgow, Hull, Bristol, and Belfast.
§ THE CIVIL LORD OF THE ADMIRALTY (MR. PRETYMAN, Suffolk, Woodbridge)The cost of fitting these vessels with modern ordnance would be prohibitive, and it is chiefly for this reason that many of the older types of battleships have not been modernised for use in the Fleet.