§ Mr. Parkerasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty whether he will state the total number of recruits, and the 2086W number between the ages of 20 and 21, who applied to join the Navy during the year ending the 31st March; the numbers who were accepted and in what branches; and at what ages was there a shortage of recruits?
§ Mr. ShakespeareThe total number of applications received to join the Royal Navy and Royal Marines during the year ended 31st March, 1939, was 69,968. The number of applicants who were between the ages of 20 and 21 years cannot be stated as no record of the ages of rejected candidates is kept.
The total number entered in the Royal Navy and Royal Marines during the same period was 15,668. Of these 722 were between the ages of 20 and 21 years.
There was no shortage of recruits except in some of the skilled branches, namely, artificers and some artisans.