§ 36. Mr. Pagetasked the Civil Lord of the Admiralty the numbers and types of submarines at present building or ordered; and whether any change in the submarine programme is contemplated.
§ Mr. C. Ian Orr-EwingOne nuclear submarine, two Porpoise Class and seven Oberon Class submarines are at present under construction; by that I mean that these boats are already on the slipway.
Other submarines, including a second nuclear submarine, are on order but for security reasons we only exceptionally announce orders for submarines; for the same reason our future programme is not made public.
§ Mr. PagetIn the light of what we have now seen of the American advances in regard to Polaris submarines, does not this programme want looking at again? I do not know in what sort of war the hon. Gentleman is contemplating that these old-type submarines now being built will be used, but they cost something like £2 million apiece.
§ Mr. Orr-EwingWe believe that the conventional submarine—and ours are perhaps the leaders in the world in design and quietness, and one should not forget we can get five or six conventional submarines for the cost of one nuclear submarine—is of value, not only for training in our own Navy, but in Commonwealth Navies as well.
§ Mr. PagetIf the answer is that they are for training, what are we training for? Is it training for training in order to serve in submarines for training?
§ Mr. Orr-EwingOne of the purposes of our submarine force is to train our anti-submarine forces and also the Commonwealth forces. They also have operational duties—as the hon. and learned Member knows, he having served in the Royal Navy.