CONFIDENTIAL,
COOL
From: ML SCICLUNA Defence Secretariat To
MINISTRY OF DEFENCE
TIAL
Main Building Whitehall London SW1A 2HB
Telephone (Direct Dialling) 01-218
(Switchboard) 01-218 9000
T J David Esq Hong Kong Dept
FCO
Whitehall SW1
REACTS REY.
IN Ho. #
1 SAPR 1977
Your reference
Our reference D/DS16/680/1/77
Date
HKK 175/2.
12 April 1977
Dear Tim
VISIT OF THE OTTO HAHN TO HONG KONG
1. Thank you for your letter to Boardman of 21 March.
2. It does not appear from Drace Francis' letter to you of 15th March that the Hong Kong government have yet fully appreciated that they must assume total responsibility for the safety organisation during the visit of the OTTO HAHN. As we pointed out in our letter of 27 January (D/DS16/HO/687/1/70 of that date refers) the Hong Kong government should write a special safety scheme for the visit. Although this can be based on the current naval NUSAFE instructions (and, indeed, MOD(N) are prepared to advise on how this could be adapted) the Department of Trade and the SRD of the UKAEA, who are HMG's advisers on these matters, should be consulted separately by the Hong Kong government about the adequacy of the revised safety scheme.
•
3. It would be quite wrong to regard the USS SAVANNAH's visit to Hong Kong some seven or ten years ago, when, I understand, no special safety organisation was set up, as a precedent for such visits. Existing NUSAFE orders are exclusively drawn up for the RN or USN NPW visits and should not be used for civil visits. It would also be quite inappropriate for direct reference to be made to NUSAFE in the Operation Order drawn up by HMS TAMAR as this would imply that NUSAFE orders apply to visits by civil ships, which they do not.
4. As to the question of placing the Naval Emergency Monitoring Team (NEMT) at Alverstoke on standby, we would be prepared to consider the possibility of its being placed at notice to fly out in the event of an accident if the Hong Kong government specifically requested such an arrangement, but it should be made clear that this would be subject to repayment by the Hong Kong government, on whose behalf the NEMT would be acting. Arrangements for recovering the costs from the Germans in such an event would, of course, have to be made separately by the Hong Kong government.
5.
To sum up, therefore:
The Hong Kong government must undertake full responsibility for the safety of the OTTO HAHN when she visits there.
To this end they should be advised to write a special safety scheme along the lines of the current naval NUSAFE for Hong Kong; we are prepared to advise on how it can be adapted.
CONFIDENTIAL
CONFIDENTIAL