§ Mr. Trotterasked the Secretary of State for defence how many ships in the Royal Navy in total have been (a) ordered and (b) approved for disposal in each of the last 20 years.
§ Mr. SpeedI am afraid that this information is not immediately available. I shall write to my hon. Friend.
§ Mr. Trotterasked the Secretary of State for Defence what was the strength of the Royal Navy in terms of the number of warships at 31 December 1960, 1970, 1974, 1978 and 1980, divided between types; and what was the number of ships, divided by type, in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary at each date.
§ Mr. Speed(a)Warships
44WThe information as at 31 December for the years in question is not readily available. However, the "Statements on Defence Estimates" for these years show the following position:
Type 1960 1970 1973* 1978 1980 Aircraft/antisubmarine warfare carriers 8 3 1 1 1 Commando carriers 1 2 2 2 2 Assault ships None 2 2 2 2 Cruisers 10 3 2 2 1 Destroyers 52 15 9 14 13 Frigates 100 66 62 56 54 Submarines 53 35 34 31 32 * As no figures were issued in 1974, information has been taken from the 1973 Statement. (b) Ships of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary
The position as at 31 December for the years in question is as follows:
Type 1960 1970 1974 1978 1980 Large fleet tankers 13 9 8 5 5 Small fleet tankers 4 6 5 5 5 Support tankers 8 5 4 3 4 Mobile reserve tankers 2 2 2 0 Coastal tankers 5 1 1 1 1 Fleet replenishment ships (including amament support ships) 9 7 5 4 4 Stores support ships 0 3 3 3 2 Air stores support ship 1 1 1 0 0 Store carriers 3 4 3 2 1 Helicopter support ship 0 1 1 1 1 Logistic landing ships 0 6 6 6 6 Tank landing ship 0 1 1 0 0