§ 84. Mr. Benceasked the First Lord of the Admiralty why the latest bunks, sleeping facilities and the new system of cafeteria messing have not been included in H.M.Y. "Britannia"; and why the 29W accommodation for the crew has been so limited that junior ratings sleep in hammocks in the same compartments as they eat.
§ Mr. J. P. L. ThomasOnly the junior ratings are accommodated in broadside messes and sleep in hammocks. As my hon. and gallant Friend the Parliamentary and Financial Secretary stated in the Navy Estimates debate on 9th March, experiments are proceedings in the use of bunks and of cafeteria messing, but there is so far insufficient experience to justify their general adoption. Incidentally, opinion on the relative merits of the two systems, among British ratings, is divided.
The accommodation standards for the ship's company are as good in Her Majesty's Yacht "Britannia" as in any other of Her Majesty's ships and considerably better than in most of the older ones.