HOWITZERS AFLOAT.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 1367, 27 February 1915, Page 4

HOWITZERS AFLOAT.

The possibility of the Germans mounting some of their howitzers and siege guns on board their battleships has been under discussion in Kuglaud recently. There seems little likelihood of anything of the kind being attempted, says the Army and Navy Gazette, and certainly not on the scale which some people have suggested. In war, it may be said that all things are possible, and no doubt there are a few vessels in the German Navy which could be fined to mount a siege gun or howitzers o! large calibre. They would resemble the bomb ketches of sailing ship days. It is another thing, however, for the Germans to be able to fit out a large number of such craft, and even if there were many of them they could not be difficult to deal with. To take the naval guns out of their battleships and replace them with siege guns is out of the question. In the first place, it is hardly possible that there are enough siege guns lor the purpose, and, secondly, they are more urgently required uu shore. Moreover, the transformation of the armament of the battleships in this way would by no means be the simple process that some people imagine. A battleship’s big guns are practically a part of her hull, or rather, their mountings and tutu tables are. To remove them lor the installation of siege guns and their equipment would involve long and costly reconstruction of the ship, which would not be worth the time and trouble, even supposing it was successfully done, which is not at all likely. There is a difference between mounting perhaps one or two siege guns, if they can be spared, on board an old battleship or cruiser for bombarding purposes, and arming whole squadrons with siege guns for' use in a naval engagement.