§ MR. LOUGHI beg to ask the Secretary to the Admiralty how many submarine boats have been completed up to the present for the Navy, and what has been the total expenditure upon them; how many have been sunk or destroyed, and what has been the total loss of life; how many of the remaining boats are considered seaworthy; and whether steps can be taken to experiment more carefully with this type of boat so as to avert such loss of life as took place in the recent accident at Plymouth
§ MR. PRETYMANThe total expenditure upon submarine boats up to the present time is £807,535. The number of boats already completed is seventeen. Two of the vessels have been sunk, but both were subsequently recovered, and; the total loss of life—including those 73 killed by the explosion on the A 5—amounts to four officers and twenty-eight men. All the boats are considered seaworthy. Every care is taken during exercises, and the recent accident was not due to experiments.