§ 18. Mr. Chetwyndasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty what action is being taken to develop nuclear submarine cargo-carriers.
§ Mr. GalbraithI would refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Oldbury and Halesowen (Mr. Moyle) on 23rd April.
§ Mr. ChetwyndIs it not a fact that we are now having to concentrate our limited resources of men and money on atomic submarines for war purposes? Would it not be more desirable, in the long-term interests of our shipbuilding industry and our mercantile marine, if we devoted our resources in this respect to cargo vessels for peaceful purposes and perhaps relied on the Americans for information about submarines for war?
§ Mr. GalbraithI think the hon. Member is not quite accurate in his information. Work on the submarine is for defence purposes. At the same time, work is going ahead to produce a surface merchant vessel which will be economic. It would be a mistake to divert that work to try to produce a submarine which is also economic. Let us get the surface vessel economic first.