THE EARL OF WILTONMy Lords, I beg to call the attention of the First Lord of the Admiralty to the fact that the majority of battleships and first-class cruisers in His Majesty's Navy now in commission are still armed with 6-inch guns having only a velocity of 2,160 f.s., or less, and to ask if it is intended to replace these low-powered guns with weapons of higher power which would be more suited to the attack of modern armour. I may add that these 6-inch guns are infinitely inferior to the French guns.
§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE ADMIRALTY (The Earl of SELBORNE)The noble Earl has put the Question in a certain form, and if I turn it round I shall not be in any sense inaccurate. I can turn it round by saying that since the majority of the battleships and first-class cruisers were put into commission, a gun of a higher velocity has been invented, both in this country and in foreign countries. In fact, the particular class and calibre of gun to which the noble Earl refers is absolutely the latest invention. It is perfectly impossible that at any given moment, either in our Navy or in any other Navy, every ship could be the latest design and every gun the latest mark. That is an absolutely impossible ideal. Nor is it always a very simple matter to exchange guns. A great deal more than the cost of the guns is involved. There are some classes of ships—for instance, the old muzzle-loading ships that have now disappeared from our effective lists—in which it was never possible to replace these muzzle-loaders with breechloaders owing to the construction of the ships. Again, there are other ships whose age and design would make it a waste of money to put new wine into old bottles, or new armament into old hulls; and, with regard to the battleships which the noble Earl has particularly in view, many considerations have to be kept in sight. A new mark of sun means new mountings, new instalments, and probably alterations in the magazines; and in all those cases the effect of the changes on the draught, the stability, and the metacentric height of the ship has to be borne in mind and carefully calculated. Again, I would remind the noble Earl that in many of the battleships and first-class cruisers, the 6in. guns to which he refers are only secondary armament; that the big guns are the primary armament of the ships upon which reliance is placed to pierce the armour of their opponents. I only mention all this to show that it is not the simple matter of exchanging one gun for another; that many things have to be borne in mind. I think the programme of the Admiralty this year is proof that the question of re-armament is never lost sight of, because, although much has been done by previous Boards in this direction, I doubt if at any time so many changes of great importance in armament were announced as I have been 149 able to announce this year. I can only assure the House that the Admiralty never loses sight of this matter.
§ House adjourned at twenty minutes before Five o'clock, to Thursday next, half-past Ten o'clock.