§ Mr. MIDDLEMOREasked how many completed torpedo-boat destroyers in the British and German navies respectively have a fuel capacity of 100 tons or over?
§ The FIRST LORD of the ADMIRALTY (Mr. McKenna)German, 72; British, 40.
§ Mr. MIDDLEMOREMay I ask the right hon. Gentleman if he does not consider that the offensive capacity of all these vessels away from our shores mainly consists in their fuel endurance, and is he satisfied that we have succeeded in providing fuel endurance adequate for the occasion?
§ Mr. McKENNAYes. The hon. Gentleman has selected as his standard, curiously, 100 tons. If he had selected 105 tons he would have had a very different answer. There is a large number of German destroyers that are just 102 tons. Had the hon. Gentleman selected 95 tons also he would have had a very different answer. It is only by the arbitrary selection of 100 tons that he has got the answer which I have given.
§ Mr. MIDDLEMOREasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether, in view of his statement that the Navy List shows the standard of strength in destroyers which the Admiralty deem necessary for this country to maintain, the Board have satisfied themselves that for Great Britain to provide for 49 destroyers in the period 1905-9, compared with Germany's 54, and to have completed of that number five to Germany's 30, is an adequate means of maintaining that standard?
§ Mr. McKENNAYes, Sir, taking into account our great preponderance in earlier types. The hon. Member omits to mention the 36 ex-coastal destroyers built during this period.