MR. HARCOURT (Lancashire, Rossendale)To ask the Secretary to the Admiralty whether he can state the average annual cost of a first-class line of battleship in commission, for salaries of officers and crew, victualling, coal stores and repairs, and powder and ammunition respectively.
(Answered by Mr. Pretyman.) The average annual cost of maintaining in commission a first-class battleship of, say, 13,000 tons, is, approximately, as follows:—Full pay, wages, etc., of officers and crew, £40,369; victualling, £14,604; coal, £23,600; stores and repairs, £9,548; naval ordnance stores, £5,500; or, in round figures, a total cost of, £94,000.