Meeting Defence Needs
28
The table below shows
defence requirements.
the number of ships
of ships available against
The supply figures are for ships registered
in the UK; ships registered in dependent territories and foreign
states have not been taken into account, with one exception, that of
ro-ro ferries, where а small number of ships on UK dependent
territory flags but operating on scheduled services in UK waters
have been included. The three areas of difficulty identified are
product tankers, auxiliary minesweepers, and a heavy-lift ship. Not
all the ships indicated as available against each heading would be
suitable for all the types of requirements embraced under the
heading. But the forecasts are that for each specific requirement
above
other than the exceptions mentioned adequate numbers of suitable
ships should continue to be available at least for the next six or
seven years, and with a geographic dispersion that would mean they
were available within the times required.