§ Mr. Peter Griffithsasked the Secretary of State for Defence what were the circumstances leading to the removal of HMS "Fearless" from the Royal Naval Dockyard, Portsmouth, for refit on Tyneside.
§ Mr. SpeedThe load in the United Kingdom dockyards currently exceeds the capacity by a considerable amount. In order to meet operational requirements, it has therefore been necessary to place a number of warship refits with commercial yards.
643WHMS "Fearless" was selected as one of those better suited for refit by a commercial shiprepairer than other more complex warships. Even with this change of programme there will be available for Portsmouth dockyard as much naval refitting work as it will have the capacity to undertake.