A 'naval power’ emerges

Press, 19 February 1987, Page 29

A 'naval power’ emerges

By ROBIN CHARTERIS London correspondent A private company in Britain is referring to itself — jokingly — as among the top 15 naval powers in the world. It has just taken delivery of two former Royal Navy submarines which it plans to refit and sell

abroad, the first time “ Navy warships have been sold privately for resale. ; « A engineering and-- petro-chemical contractor, the Seaforth Group, is the proud new owner of the 2000 ton fully working dieselpowered subs, each capable of carrying 25 tor-

pedoes. Both H.M.S. Oberon and Walrus are 25 years old, but once refitted should last well into next century.

They were due to be scrapped, but instead were bought by Seaforth for more than £1 million ($2.8 million), a company spokesman said. After refitting, they could fetch as much as, £25 million ($7O million), about a quarter of the price of a modern submarine. Work on the submarines will create about 500 jobs in the group’s Humber ship repairers yards at Immingham,

where the unemployment rate is about 15 per cent.

Seaforth group sees the two submarines as only a beginning. It intends to develop the Humber yards as a big marine base specialising in refitting ex-naval vessels from around the world “for release on the overseas market”

The company is offering to fit any weapons system now available on Oberon and Walrus, but its customer list has been restricted and Defence Ministry approval is needed before any export licence is issued.