CONFIDENTIAL
29 The three areas of difficulty which the preceding Table
cates are auxiliary minesweeper, product tankers and a heavy- lirt ship.
Action is in hand to deal with these as follows:
il
HHN
30.
a. Auxilliary Minesweepers. There are not enough high- powered deep sea trawlers in the British fleet to meet the Navy's demand for this role. Studies by the Ministry of Defence into alternative ways of meeting this requirement will be completed in the Spring.
b. Product Tankers.
There are still enough suitable product tankers in the required size ranges to meet the Navy's specialised needs, but the margins are small, and the indications are that in the longer term the need for 20- 50,000 dwt ships may not be capable of being met by United Kingdom registered ships. The Ministry of Defence is closely monitoring the position.
C. Heavy-Lift Ship. The Ministry of Defence has stated a requirement for a heavy-lift vessel. There is no vessel under UK control with adequate capability for the task. Negotiations are taking place with another NATO nation to meet this requirement.
Paragraph 5 referrred to the Trans-Atlantic Rapid Reinforcement Plan. Most members of the Alliance would contribute to the fleet for this purpose, according to their resources, so ability to meet the requirement is an Alliance matter. The requirements are expressed in terms of range, size, and speed, varying with different types of vessel. The UK's present contribution is 124 ships, the largest element of the non-USA total of 573; the following Table gives details. Annual location tests of the Alliance ships identified as suitable for this task are carried out.
Type of Vessel
Conventional
Non-Self-sustaining container ships Self-sustaining container ships Container/Ro Ro
Ro Ro
மா
Contribution
51
42
9
9
13
Foot Note:
124
The vessels listed (in paragraph 30) are all ocean-going ships. The Ro Ro vessels are additional to those listed in the supply tables in paragraph 28.
A
5
CONFIDENTIAL
ACDS (L) C24 (14)