Faster Merchant Ships
Lord Winster raised a vital question in the House of Lords on Tuesday when he complained that the Admiralty had been con- centrating on the construction of slow merchant ships, which are
by the nature of things most vulnerable to torpedo attack. Lord Leathers was able to show that the Ministry of War Transport and _the Admiralty are alive to the danger, and that, in fact, one-third of the ocean-going vessels now on order and under construction
are in the high-speed category—that is to say, capable of doing 15
knots an hour. But while his answer does show that we may look for improvement in respect of speed, it also indicates that
the Government have only recently been converted to this policy. He said that their aim was to produce as many fast vessels as possible without misusing any available capacity. They are bound to build to time-table in accordance with shipbuilding resources; that is to say, they are bound to a great extent by the commit- ments of past policy. Lord Leathers made it clear that there are
some factors which have to be weighed against other factors. For instance, in a period of acute shortage, should we have more slow ships or faster ships fewer in number? Difficult decisions have to be taken, but it is satisfactory to know that policy is now con- centrating on the production of more fast ships, for it would be no consolation to know that ever Targer numbers of vessels were constructed if it were also the case that larger numbers were sent to the bottom.
