The delays, as will be seen from the tables given, were most serious in the case of vessels classed as auxiliaries. Sir Thomas Bell, who possessed great experience of shipbuilding in a private capacity, was at the head of the Department of the Deputy Controller for Dockyards and Shipbuilding, and the Director of Warship Production was a distinguished Naval constructor. The Deputy Controller of Auxiliary Shipbuilding was an officer lent from the War Office, whose previous experience had lain, I believe, largely in the railway world; some of his assistants and staff were, however, men with experience of shipbuilding. When I became First Sea Lord at the end of 1916 the new building programme, which had received the sanction of the Cabinet, was as follows: 8 Flotilla leaders. 500 Trawlers. 65 T.B.D.'s. 60 Submarines. 34 Sloops. 4 Seaplane carriers. 48 Screw minesweepers. 60 Boom defence vessels. 16 Paddle " During the early part of 1917 it was decided to substitute 56 screw minesweepers and 8 paddle sweepers for the approved programme of this class of vessel and to add another 50 screw minesweepers to meet the growing mine menace, as well as to substitute 115 drifters for 50 of the trawlers, and to request the Canadian Government to build 36 trawlers and 100 drifters mainly for use in Canadian waters. It was also decided to lay down 36 mercantile decoy ships and 12 tugs, and to build 56 motor skimmers on the lines of the coastal motor boats, which were then showing their value off the Belgian coast. The programme therefore, in May, 1917, was as follows: Flotilla leaders 8 T.B.D.'s 65 Patrol boats 6 Sloops 34 Minesweepers (screw) 56 " (paddle) 8 Additional twin-screw minesweepers 50 Submarines 60 Trawlers 450 Drifters 115 Canadian trawlers 36 " drifters 100 Boom defence vessels 60 Mercantile decoy ships 36 Seaplane carriers 4 Tugs 12 Motor skimmers 56 Meanwhile intelligence had been received which indicated that Germany was building such a considerable number of light cruisers as to jeopardize our supremacy in this class of vessel, and it was decided by the Board that we ought to build eight more light cruisers even at the cost of appropriating the steel intended for the construction of six merchant ships.