§ Mr. J. M. ROBERTSONasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether he can state summarily the proportional expenditures upon the building of warships of the principal classes, other than "Dreadnoughts," in the British and German navies respectively since 1906?
§ Mr. McKENNAThe ships, other than "Dreadnoughts" and submarines, laid down after the 1st April, 1908, are as follows:—1412W
Germany 1 armoured cruiser. 10 protected cruisers. 60 destroyers. Great Britain 18 protected and unprotected cruisers. 66 destroyers. In view of the different manner in which the Estimates in the two countries are prepared, it is not possible to arrive at any exact comparison of expenditure, but generally it may be assumed that there is not much difference in the cost of building vessels of the same kind in Great Britain and Germany.
§ Mr. J. M. ROBERTSONasked the First Lord of the Admiralty, whether he can state at what time it was discovered that the forecast made by the Admiralty in 1909 as to the probable strength of the German navy in 1910–13 was found to be mistaken?
§ Mr. McKENNAI assume that my hon. Friend refers to the forecast made by me in a speech in this House on the 16th March, 1909. That forecast was founded on the fact that, in addition to orders having been given in advance of the beginning of the financial year for component parts of the ships of the German 1909–10 programme, the contracts for two of these ships had been promised in the autumn of 1908, and the keel plate of one of them had been laid at least two months before I spoke. There has been no contradiction of these facts; and the presumption to which they gave rise, that the anticipation of the beginning of the German 1909–10 programme might be followed by an anticipation of the date of its final completion, was strengthened by the fact that much larger sums were asked for as first instalments in payment for the 1908–09 and 1909–10 ships than in the case of the ships laid down in the preceding year. We now know that the early promise of contracts was made only for financial and labour reasons, that the large first instalments for the 1908–09 and 1909–10 ships meant not a faster rate of construction, but the building of ships of much greater cost, and that there is no intention on the part of Germany to deliver her ships from the shipyards at dates in anticipation of the year in which the final instalments are voted. I am now happily in possession of official information as to the dates when the German ships are expected to be delivered from the shipyards. The date when I publicly amended the forecast to which I had given 1413W expression on 16th March was thirteen days afterwards, on 29th March of the same year, when I made the following statement, which will be found in the OFFICIAL REPORT, 1909, Vol. HI., col. 138:—
The German Government have since explained that they will not have thirteen ships until the end of 1912. … It appears certain now that the German ships will not be ready for trial before that date. If you take off the time for going on trial, we shall at every point in 1911, even on the figures which I gave before, have a superiority of three.I would point out that in the quotation I have given it is obvious that the word "date" should read "year."