§ Mr. Colvinasked the Secretary of State for Defence how many warships at present under construction have aluminium hulls or superstructures; and whether he is satisfied with the precautions taken to deal with fire hazards on ships of this type of construction.
§ Mr. PattieOf warships under construction, only the "Peacock" class of patrol craft for Hong Kong, five of which have been ordered, have aluminium alloy superstructures, as is common in fast patrol craft of this sort. I am satisfied that measures appropriate to each class of warship are already taken to minimise fire hazards, but we shall study very carefully the causes of our tragic losses in the South Atlantic to determine whether any lessons may be learned for our damage control and maritime safety techniques.