§ Captain Kerbyasked the Secretary of State for Defence what progress has been made in the design and development of a new class of combined minesweepers and hunters, in view of the increasing age of the existing coastal minesweepers and the fact that some of these are now being discarded.
§ Mr. MayhewWe still have enough coastal minesweepers, and we are converting a number of them into minehunters. We are studying a new type of ship that can both hunt and sweep mines.