§ 14. Commander BELLAIRSasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether the proposals of the Government for the total abolition of the battleship were first submitted to the naval war staff; and whether they envisaged any increase in the number of cruisers?
Mr. ALEXANDERI cannot see that the two points of the hon. and gallant Member's question can be held to arise out of the Government's expression of the hope that battleships may ultimately disappear, which occurs in paragraph four of Part II of the Memorandum in Command Paper 3485 on the Government's position at the Naval Conference. No more definite proposal in this regard has been made by His Majesty's Government.
§ Commander BELLAIRSIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that the Memorandum not merely expressed a wish that agreement should be reached that battleships should disappear altogether, but proceeded to say that they were a very doubtful proposition, giving technical reasons of submarine attack? Surely the staff was not consulted on that point?
Mr. ALEXANDERThe Admiralty staff are consulted on every question of a technical quality which affects policy.
§ Commander BELLAIRSDid the Admiralty staff express agreement with what was put into the Memorandum?