§ Mr. Pagetasked the Civil Lord of the Admiralty if he will make a statement as to the degrees of readiness at which various classes of ships laid up are maintained; and how much time would elapse before each of these classes could be brought into service.
§ Mr. C. Ian Orr-EwingThe more important ships in the reserve fleet are at notice to get to sea within a week. There is, however, still a number of ships in reserve which could not be made operational so quickly. This includes ships on the sales list. Oar policy, which was announced in February, 1958, is to reduce this margin by degrees. It would not be in the public interest to give the exact degree of readiness of each ship.