HL Deb 01 August 1911 vol 9 cc775-80

EARL BRASSEY rose to call attention to recent sales of armoured ships, and to the insufficient number of cruisers in reserve on distant stations.

The noble Earl said: My Lords, in submitting suggestions on this subject I have chiefly in view that policy of co-operation for defence to which, it is understood, especial attention was given at the recent Colonial Conference. I shall endeavour to show how the Mother Country may, without adding to expenditure on the Imperial Navy, materially assist Australia and Canada in creating local naval forces. The cost of constructing ships must be a heavy charge on young nations. Under the scheme prepared by Admiral Henderson for Australian naval defence, the total expenditure on construction would be no less than £23,000,000, and the annual charges would aggregate £5,000,000. It is certain that expenditure on so vast a scale must be spread over a long space of time. In the interval which must elapse before the ships proposed for the local navies are completed, we may place war vessels which we can spare in reserve in the ports of the outer Empire, and more especially in Australasia. We have this year struck off the list and have sold or are about to sell no less than ten battleships, completed so recently as 1894. The list includes the eight ships of the "Empress of India" class, displacement 14,000 tons. These ships are powerfully armed, of good speed, with ample coal supply, and in sound condition. Two ships—the "Revenge" and "Centurion"—are of smaller dimensions and less heavily armed. They have a speed of over 18 knots. In addition, we have lately sold the "Nile" and "Trafalgar," little inferior in fighting efficiency to the "Empress" class; date of completion, 1890. It is not necessary to go further back. The twelve ships named are the last on a long list.

The naval advisers of the Admiralty are, perhaps unconsciously, too ready to strike off ships. They know that their retention as efficient for service is in some quarters an argument for cutting down Votes. Naval Lords look to the latest ships of the most formidable foreign Power which we must be prepared to meet. They condemn as obsolete ships sensibly inferior in any of the elements of efficiency. We have to look at the naval position as it must be considered in Australasia. Ships of the latest type are few in distant seas. Our ally, Japan, has two Dreadnoughts built, and three building. The other battleships of the Japanese Navy, eleven in number, are similar in type to those which we have struck off.

There is a further consideration. At the present time the Commonwealth is slenderly provided with the means of defence. The existing naval forces consist of three modern destroyers, a few torpedo-boats, one small coast-defence monitor, launched in 1868, one small third-class cruiser, and some gunboats. The local Navy of Australia is a harbour defence flotilla. Battleships no longer fit to lie in line may be a valuable reinforcement. Melbourne, Brisbane, Wellington, and Hobart are at the head of deep inlets. The channels of approach, through shoals and banks, could be enfiladed by the fire from the heavy guns of ships grounded in suitable positions. There are other services for which armoured ships not of the latest type are well adapted. They would be admirable for the sea training of the Australian Naval Reserves.

Let us turn from battleships to cruisers. We have a wide responsibility for the protection of trade. Of all the Dominions and Dependencies, Australia is the furthest from the base of the Empire. Its Colonial and over-sea trade is valued at £160,000,000 annually. To give the protection required would be a severe tax on the Imperial main sea forces. As Captain Creswell, the able director of the Australian Navy, has truly said, the distance is the greatest possible, and the value of the prize offered to an enemy is probably unequalled. How can we best co-operate with the Commonwealth for the protection of trade? The ships from which damage might be apprehended are not the "greyhounds" of the Atlantic, few in number, and, in any time of emergency, certain to be closely watched by our fast and powerful cruisers, but the far more numerous vessels, not of exceptional speed, scattered over the world, which cannot all be watched, pursued, and captured by the regular cruisers of the Navy. We have many cruisers on our list which could be spared, and of a type better adapted for service in Australasian waters than the cruisers of the "Town" class, which the Commonwealth have been advised to build. Take the "Spartiate" class, seven in number, displacement 11,000 tons, twice the tonnage of the "Town" class vessels, with good beam, ample free board, and a speed of 21 knots. Though completed so recently as 1902, yet as the oldest on the lists of protected vessels they may, if the policy of recent years is pursued, not long hence be struck off the list of effectives. Let us not repeat the errors of the past. As we continue from year to year to build cruisers specially designed for naval operations in European waters, let us place in reserve in the ports of the outer Empire vessels which may for many years be valuable for the protection of the coasting trade of Australia if threatened by a stray raider.

In dealing with the naval defences of the Empire it is necessary to distribute as well as to concentrate our forces. I was serving at the Admiralty at the time of the Penjdeh incident. War with Russia was imminent. There was grave anxiety as to the safety of our shipping in distant seas. P. and 0. steamers were taken up and fitted at great cost as improvised cruisers. In Hong Kong and Sydney heavy expenses would have been saved and anxiety relieved if we had had vessels in reserve in those waters ready for service in any emergency. In conclusion, the policy it has been sought to recommend would, as has been said, relieve the self-governing Dominions in no inconsiderable degree of the heavy expense of building new ships. It should lessen charges on Imperial funds for manning. The complements of cruisers of the "Spartiate" class are nearly 700 men, or a total for the seven ships of the type of 5,000 men. if these ships were stationed in the outer Empire they would be effective for the protection of commerce from raiders, and the local Governments might help us to man them.

THE EARL OF GRANARD

Your Lordships invariably listen with attention to any remarks which the noble Earl makes on matters connected with the merchant service and the Royal Navy, of which he has such large knowledge, and I would venture on behalf of the House to offer him our congratulations upon the promotion in the Peerage which the King has been graciously pleased to confer upon him. Now with regard to the speech of the noble Earl, it is not the case, as he seems to think, that the Admiralty have any objection to selling ships to the Dominions. Two ships—the "Niobe" and the "Rainbow"—have already been sold to Canada, and I understand that the Dominion of Australia are proposing to purchase a destroyer for training purposes. But the Dominions have to consider whether this is the best way of spending the funds which they have at their disposal. The Government of Australia are about to spend a very large sum on their Navy, and it is a question whether the purchase of old cruisers and battleships is the best way of spending that money. I think it cannot be denied that there is a very general tendency to under-rate the cost of manning these ships and very much to over-value their fighting capacity. So far there has been no great inclination on the part of the Dominions to buy this class of vessel, and as far as the Admiralty are concerned the advice they give to the Dominions is to build up-to-date ships and to man them with thoroughly efficient crews. Take a ship of the "Royal Sovereign" class. A ship of that order is very expensive to keep up. She deteriorates very quickly and her deterioration, especially as regards machinery, becomes more apparent every year. In addition to this, a battleship of that class has a crew the complement of which is double that of cruisers of other classes and is in no way so effective for defending commerce. I need hardly say that the Admiralty very carefully consider the fighting qualities and general effectiveness of any ship before it is condemned, and they never condemn a ship until they are perfectly certain that the cost of maintenance is not proportionate with the fighting efficiency of the ship. The Dominion Governments have come for advice to the Admiralty, and the advice given by the Admiralty is certainly not to buy old and obsolete battleships and cruisers which can be of no practical use and are very expensive to keep up.