§ Mr. Trotterasked the Secretary of State for Defence what was the cost of HMS "Hermes" in current prices; and how this compares with the current construction of a carrier of the Invincible class.
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§ Mr. GoodhartHMS "Hermes" was ordered 38 years ago in 1943 and accepted into service in 1959. To calculate the cost of "Hermes" at current prices would therefore be exceptionally difficult and involve a large number of imprecise assumptions. At outturn prices, the cost of the vessel was £17.5 million, exclusive of guns and certain items of equipment, such as aircraft. The cost of HMS "Invincible", which was accepted into service last year, was £184.5 million at outturn prices including fitted weapons systems and equipment.