§ Lieut.-Colonel MOORE-BRABAZONasked the First Lord of the Admiralty the cost in price and time in construction of any submarine of the 700-ton class built, or in course of building, at private yards as compared with the "Odin," now being built at Chatham Dockyard?
§ Lieut.-Colonel HEADLAMI assume that my hon. and gallant Friend's question refers to submarines of tonnage
Ship. Building Yard. Total Estimated Cost, including Incidental Charges but excluding Guns and Ordnance Stores. £ Cruisers— "Kent" … … … Chatham … … 2,108,728 "Suffolk" … … … Portsmouth … … 2,147,837 "Cornwall" … … … Devonport … … 2,207,419 "Berwick" … … … Contract … … 1,993,108 "Cumberland" … … … Contract … … 1,899,721 Submarines— "Odin" … … … Chatham … … 494,496 "Osiris" … … Contract … … Total for three £1,013,461 337,820(mean). "Oswald" … … "Otas" … … "Olympus" … … Contract … … Total for two £690,174 345,087(mean). "Orpheus" … …
§ Lieut.-Colonel MOORE-BRABAZONasked the First Lord of the Admiralty the total tonnage of the war landing pontoons built at Chatham dockyerd, their time and cost, and how this compares in time and price with those built at other establishments?
§ Lieut.-Colonel HEADLAMThere were three landing pontoons built at Chatham
1808Wequivalent to that of "Odin" (1,540 tons surface displacement), as there are no 700-ton submarines building or built since the War for His Majesty's Navy. The cost of the "Odin" and the contractbuilt submarine, as given in the programme appended to the 1928 Estimates, is £494,496 for "Odin," and £345,087 for contract-built submarine.
§ Lieut.-Colonel MOORE-BRABAZONasked the First Lord of the Admiralty the average cost of ships built at Chatham in comparison with those of the same class built at Portsmouth, Devonport, and by private firms?
§ Lieut.-Colonel HEADLAMOnly a limited comparison under post-War conditions is practicable since the number of ships for His Majesty's Navy laid down since the War and completed or approaching completion is not large. I may, however, refer my hon. and gallant Friend to the figures for "Kent" class cruisers, and "O" class submarines, contained in the programme appended to the Navy Estimates, 1928. These figures show the estimated total cost of the five cruisers of the "Kent" class, excluding guns, as:
during the War and the particulars asked for are as follow:
1809W
Total Tonnage. Time taken to Build. Cost. Tons. £ 3650 1 in 3 months 187,079 2 in 2½ months No similar pontoons were built at other establishments. The work was done with the utmost despatch, and it was regarded at the time as a creditable performance by Chatham yard.