British Royal Navy lacking enough ships for escort and convoy duties to the Dutch magazine Marineblad No. 4 dated April 1940

An item referred to the Shipbuilding &Shipping Record dated 1 February 1940 reporting that the British member of parliament Shinwell (1) criticized the First Lord of the Admiralty (2) in the Dunbar Castle loss. He pointed out that many ships were forced to steam large distances and in some cases even 7 hours steaming before they they could join the convoy being unprotected during that time. The Admiralty informed him that they investigated this problem while vice admiral Taylor (3) added that in the years before the war the naval finances were cut. The result was lacking enough ships for protecting the merchant shipping. There was no reply to his remark.

Notes
1.Emanuel Shinwell (18 October 1884 London, England-8 May 1986, London, England), Baron Shinwell, Independent Labour Party member.
2.First Lord of the Admiralty 3 September 1939-1940 was Sir Winston Leonard Spence Churchill  30 November 1874 Oxfordshire, England-24 January 1965 London, England), Prime Minister since 10 May 1940 succeeded by A.V. Alexander 11 May 1940-25 May 1945.
3. Ernest Taylor (17 April 1876-11 March 1971), member of Parliament 1930-1950?