Frigate Waikato To Cost £6.91m.

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31002, 7 March 1966, Page 17

Frigate Waikato To Cost £6.91m.

(From Out Own Reporter)

WELLINGTON. March 6. The next modern anti-submarine frigate which the Government buys for the Navy will cost considerablj- more than the combined price for the first two of the line, commissioned only six years ago.

In 1960-61, the final bill for both the Otago and Taranaki, the original two type-12 Whitby frigates for the Navy was £8.04 million. This was then considered dear enough—especially since official estimates in 1955 had predicted a total price of £5.5 million for the two. Now, the Waikato, third of the line and yet to be delivered, is expected to cost £6.91 million—including the price of two helicopters—by the time she is in service next year. But the present estimated cost of a further frigate, yet

to be ordered, is already £8.3 million. By comparison, the six Loch-class frigates commissioned in 1948 and then the most modern of antisubmarine ships, although they are now either scrap or on their way to the breaker, was £1.4 million. The 1956 modernisation of the cruiser Royalist, now being stripped after her midocean breakdown, cost £3.67 million. SAVE Money, time and energy. For as little as 2s lOd (Saturdays 3s 6d) “The Press’’ classifieds will quote your messages to more than 68.500 families EARLY. Dial 50-199 any time.