§ Mr. Pagetasked the Civil Lord of the Admiralty if he will state the number of persons employed in his Department, the number of Her Majesty's ships in commission, and the number of men serving in the fleets in 1939, 1945, 1950. 1960, or convenient proximate dates.
§ Mr. C. Ian Orr-Ewing:The numbers of civilians and naval officers together employed at Admiralty Headquarters in the years 1938, 1946, 1950 and 1960, respectively, were: 4,407, 18,445, 10,855 and 9,953. The number of Her Majesty's ships in commission at approximately the same respective dates were: 434, 1,176, 268, 211. The number of men serving afloat on approximately similar dates were: 68,300, 159,900, 65,900 and 43,000. These figures exclude Fleet Air Arm and Royal Marine Commando personnel serving ashore.