SCRAPPING OF SHIPS

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28263, 29 April 1957, Page 9

SCRAPPING OF SHIPS

New Naval Programme

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, April 26. Britain will scrap four of her remaining five battleships this year and the Royal Navy will concentrate on a new “roving” fleet shaped to meet the new hydrogen bomb era. the Government announced today. The four battleships to go to the breakers are King George V, Duke of York, Anson and Howe. The sole survivor of Britain’s, once-mighty array of battleships is Vanguard, youngest of the five and now held in reserve. This new picture of a Navy divided into task groups built round the airpower of the aircraftcarrier is presented in a report today by the First Lord of the Admiralty (Lord Selkirk). A “Roving” Fleet The aim of the new “roving’ fleet was to operate for long periods independently of conventional shore bases, Lord Selkirk said in a memorandum on the Navy Estimates for 1957-58. The budget for the Navy in the current financial year is £316,000,000—£32,840,000 lower than last year. The strength of the Royal Fleet Reserve is being reduced from 33,000 to only 5000 men. Critics, looking back on Britain’s proud tradition of sea power, have commented recently that the new changes and reductions mean that the service which bred Drake and Nelson is now a second-class force. But Lord Selkirk in his report today wrote: “The role of the Navy, modified and developed in the way that has been described, continues to be of the greatest importance to this country’s defence.” Construction Programme The memorandum made these points: Construction of the aircraftcarrier Hermes will continue. Another, Victorious, is due to complete modernisation at the end of 1957, and will be the first carrier in service with fully-angled flight deck. The next carrier to be modernised will be Eagle. Construction of Tiger Class cruisers, with fully automatic 6in and 3in guns, is gathering pace Orders have been placed for four fleet escort vessels, armed with the guided missile Seaslug. Progress is being made with the design of the nuclear submarine, Dreadnought. The high-speed peroxide-driven submarine Explorer was completed last year, and a second, Excalibur, will be completed this year.

New, fast battery-driven submarines of the Porpoise Class are under construction.