Naval orders and the dispersal of French cannon production

French interest in naval cannon is explained partly as a way to spread production across more locations. Existing cannon-producing areas could be reached by an enemy crossing the land frontier, leaving the supply of guns vulnerable to invasion. Supporting naval production offered a way to develop additional capacity while France still had extensive land borders to defend. A manufacturing centre near the defensive approaches to Paris could support that defence, but its capture would remove productive capacity as well as territory.