ARMING MERCHANTMEN.
Commenting upon the action of the Admiralty in arming merchant ships Mr Stead says in the July Review of Reviews : To arm merchantmen, as is now being done, means the gift of some good guns as well as a good ship, to any enemy’s cruiser that happened along, lor no uuarmoured ship would dream of fighting a steelclad vessel, however small. The only possible use such guns could be put to would be to repel an attack by an enemy’s ship similarly armed, a remote and improbable contingency. The experiment is bound to be a costly one, both for the British taxpayer, who through the Admiralty supplies the guns and necessary ammunition, and for the owners, who have to make considerable structural alterations, to sacrifice much valuable cargo room, and pay increased insurance charges, not to mention the inconvenience which may be met with in ports where vessels carrying explosives are prohibited from, docking or lying alongside wharves. The whole scheme is a useless expenditure of public money.
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Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 1124, 19 July 1913, Page 4
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170ARMING MERCHANTMEN. Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 1124, 19 July 1913, Page 4
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