§ MR. W. F. D. SMITH (Strand, Westminster)To ask the Secretary to the Admiralty whether at stations from which submarines are exercised, apparatus is kept capable of lifting a submarine if an accident occurs; and, if not, whether provision will be made for that purpose in next year's Estimates.
(Answered by Mr. Edmund Robertson.) Apparatus is kept at Portsmouth capable of raising a sunken submarine under favourable conditions, and the question of providing similar apparatus at Devon-port and Sheerness is under consideration. It cannot, however, be stated that there 1086 is much likelihood that, in the event of an accident, a submarine could be raised in time to save life; and no satisfactory design for a salvage vessel capable of effecting this has yet been produced.