§ 32. Mr. Rankinasked the Civil Lord of the Admiralty how many men are serving afloat in the operational fleet, in ships engaged on trials and training, and in fleet support auxiliaries, respectively; and what percentage of total naval personnel each of these figures represents.
§ Mr. C. Ian Orr-EwingAt the 1st October, 1960, the figures were 31,400 in 1579 the operational fleet; 3,400 in ships engaged on trials and training; and 4,200 in fleet support and auxiliary vessels. They represent 32 per cent., 3 per cent. and 4 per cent., respectively, of total naval personnel. The figures do not include civilian crews of Royal Fleet Auxiliaries and other support vessels, nor do they include operational units of the Fleet Air Arm and Royal Marine Commandos not actually embarked.
§ Mr. RankinKeeping to the Question as put, do those figures not show that only about 40 per cent. of the Navy is in ships at sea and 60 per cent. is on land? Is not that rather a strange state of affairs in view of the wide commitments which the Navy has in distant parts of the world, about which we heard so much on Monday and Tuesday? How is the Navy to fulfil its commitments when the great mass of its personnel is on land in this country?
§ Mr. Orr-EwingThese figures do not take into account another 3,000 personnel in the Royal Marine Commandos and the Fleet Air Arm. They are the sharp end, the teeth units. It would be fair to consider them amongst the Fleet. The hon. Gentleman is right. We have done our best to close a large number of shore establishments and we are continuing with this to get the maximum amount of teeth and the minimum amount of tail.