§ Mr. Muddasked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will delay the disposal of HMS "Eagle" and any other of Her Majesty's ships scheduled for disposal to assess their potential as generators of power for industrial ports during the energy shortage.
§ Mr. BuckHMS "Eagle" has been partially de-equipped in preparation for disposal and it would require considerable time and effort to bring her generating machinery back into use. In any event her output is mainly of direct current which would need to be converted to alternating current before it could be put to civil use. Moreover, the contribution which could be made to the requirements of an industrial port would be extremely limited. The same general considerations apply even more forcefully to smaller ships listed for disposal.