§ 10. Mr. THOMAS LEWISasked the First Lord of the Admiralty the personnel and tonnage of the Navy for the years 1914 and 1930, respectively; and the number and cost of the personnel at the Admiralty for the years 1914 and 1930, respectively?
§ The FIRST LORD of the ADMIRALTY (Mr. A. V. Alexander)As the reply is a long one and contains many figures I will, with the hon. Member's permission, circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
§ Following is the reply:
§ The figures relating to naval personnel and tonnage are as follows:
| — | 1914. | 1930. |
| Great Britain (not including the Dominions). | ||
| Naval Personnel | 146,047 | 96,228 |
| (July). | (June). | |
| Tonnage of the Navy | 2,102,067* | 1,235,337† |
| (August). | (July). | |
| * "Navy List" Displacements. | ||
| † "Standard" Displacements. |
§ In calculating the tonnage of the Navy, the same categories have been included as in the reply to the hon. Member for Tynemouth (Mr. West Russell) on the 12th February last (OFFICIAL REPORT, cols. 431–2), namely, capital ships, cruisers, aircraft carriers (excluding seaplane carriers), flotilla leaders, destroyers, torpedo boats (1914), and submarines. Personnel figures (numbers borne) have been given for the nearest available date to those for tonnage. In the reply referred to "Standard" displacements were used except for capital ships (1929) for which "Navy List" displacements were used. In the present figures for 1930 "Standard" displacements have been used for all categories. The figures relating to the number and cost of the personnel at the Admiralty were given in the reply to the hon. and gallant Member for the Isle of Thanet (Captain Balfour) on the 3rd June, 1930 (OFFICIAL REPORT, cols. 1945–6), namely:
| — | Naval Officers and Ratings. | Civilians. | |
| (a) | Numbers serving at Headquarters on 1st January, 1914. | 152 | 1,910 |
| Cost | £98,669 | £364,933 | |
| (b) | Average numbers borne during 1929–30. | 252 | 2,780 |
| Cost | £270,000 | £986,000 |