§ Mr. Nicholas WintertonTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) how long the structural survey to be carried out on HMS Endurance will take; and when the proposed structural survey on HMS Endurance is due to begin;
(2) when the last structural survey was carried out on HMS Endurance; and what were the results;
(3) for what reason the structural survey of HMS Endurance was not begun at an earlier stage of her current period in port.
§ Mr. Archie HamiltonHMS Endurance is now 35 years old and is not built to the standards which would be required in a new ship for operation in ice. HMS Endurance has been subject to periodic structural surveys, but following the collision with an iceberg in 1989, which holed the ship and caused other structural damage, a system of full annual structural surveys was instituted. The last structural survey was carried out in 1990, following which the condition of the ship was judged acceptable for deployment to the Antarctic for the 1990–91 austral summer season. HMS Endurance returned from this deployment on 31 May and, following a period of leave and ship preparation, entered dock on 26 June. The 1991 structural survey commenced as planned on 1 July and initial results should be available within the next few weeks. The results of the survey will be considered in conjunction with the results now available of a metallurgical analysis of plate removed when the ship was repaired following the 1989 collision.
§ Mr. Nicholas WintertonTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what vessel is planned to replace HMS Endurance on ice patrol in the South Atlantic should the proposed structural survey prove her unsound.
§ Mr. Archie HamiltonHMS Endurance is the only Royal Navy ship of suitable design for the ice patrol task. No decision has been taken on her replacement.