§ MR. YERBURGHI beg to ask the Secretary to the Admiralty if he will state what was the strength of the German Navy in first and second-class battleships completed and building in 1895; what is its present strength; at what date the current shipbuilding programme of Germany will be completed; and what will then be the strength of its Navy in the said ships.
§ MR. PRETYMANThe strength of the German Navy in battleships in 1898 was five first-class battleships, four second-class, and twelve third-class, or I twenty-one battleships in all. Its present strength is fourteen first-class battleships, four second-class, and twelve third-class, or thirty battleships in all. The current German shipbuilding programme will be completed in 1920, when the total number of battleships will be fifty-five, including seventeen which will then be twenty-five years old or upwards.
§ MR. YERBURGHMy Question was I as to 1895. I will accept the figures for 1898, however.