§ Mr. Trotterasked the Secretary of State for Defence whether he will list orders placed for Royal Navy ships since May 1979, together with their total value.
§ Mr. Ian StewartI can announce today that we plan to procure a further batch of eight fleet minesweepers for use by divisions of the Royal Naval Reserve, in addition to the four already ordered in September 1982. Of the eight new minesweepers we are placing an order for six with Richards Shipbuilders Ltd. of Lowestoft and, under the terms of the Development Area Preference Scheme, have offered Clelands Shipbuilders Ltd. of Wallsend the opportunity to build two vessels of the same class. The estimated total cost of these eight ships is of the order of £35 million.
284WSince May 1979, orders have been placed prior to today for three nuclear powered hunter killer submarines (SSNs), 6 type 22 frigates, 6 Hunt class mine countermeasures vessels, five Hong Kong patrol craft, four fleet minesweepers, two Castle class patrol vessels (OPVs) and a seabed operations vessel. The total value of these 27 ships at 1982–83 prices is approximately £1,850 million, and details are as follows:
Order Order dale Yard SSN15 July 1979 Vickers Seabed Operations September 1979 Scott Lithgow Vessel 4 MCMVs (05, 07, 09, 11) June 1980 Vospers 2 OPVs August 1980 Hall Russell SSN 16 June 1981 Vickers 5 Hong Kong Patrol Craft June 1981 Hall Russell Type 22–07 August 1981 Yarrows Type 22–08 February 1982 Yarrows 4 Minesweepers Fleet September 1982 Richards Shipbuilders 2 MCMVs (08, 10) December 1982 Vospers 2 Type 22 (09, 10) December 1982 Swan Hunter 2 Type 22 (11, 12) December 1982 Yarrows SSN 17 Mach 1983 Vickers