§ 20. Mr. HARBORDasked the First Lord of the Admiralty if any award was ever given for the invention of the submarine indicating nets; if so, who was the individual who received the same; and could the information be given by the Admiralty as to the number of submarines that the nets were the means of destroying?
§ The FINANCIAL SECRETARY to the ADMIRALTY (Commander Eyres-Monsell)The Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors awarded £1,500 to Mr. F. R. S. Bircham, late Commander, R.N.V.R., in addition to £150 which had been paid him by the Admiralty for the use of a design of indicator net put forward by him in October, 1915. No other sums have been awarded in respect of the nets, but several small awards have been paid for details connected with their use. Indicator nets have been credited with the destruction of two enemy submarines.