§ Lieutenant-Commander Tufnellasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether the Erren system of propulsion has been fully examined by his experts with a view to its possible application to submarines, and with what result?
Mr. AlexanderClose attention has been given by the Admiralty to the Erren invention since 1930, and various proposals were submitted to the Admiralty by Erren, or his associates, between 1932 and 1938. Visits were paid by Admiralty representatives to Germany to inspect a high pressure electrolyser plant which had been developed by the Erren Engineering Company and to Messrs Beardmore's to see an engine running on the Erren System. In 1938 it was finally decided, after very thorough investigations, that none of the proposals made to the Admiralty by Erren Company could with advantage be adopted for submarine pro-1746W pulsion, and the Erren Engineering Company were so informed in August, 1938. The Admiralty were assisted in their investigations into the Erren system by an eminent outside engineering authority, but it would not be in the public interest, nor in view of the number of highly technical considerations involved would it be feasible, to discuss the reasons which led the Admiralty to the decision referred to above. The attention of the Admiralty has been called to Press reports which suggest that the Erren system is being employed in German submarines and that examinations of a captured U-boat have indicated this to be so. These reports are entirely incorrect.