Article 14 permitted merchant decks to be stiffened for guns no larger than six inches. One proposed way to exploit that allowance is to design a twin six-inch mounting whose weight matches or exceeds that of a triple torpedo launcher. Deck support prepared for the permitted gun installation could then accommodate the torpedo outfit envisaged for wartime. The proposal responds to the lack of torpedoes on British armed merchant cruisers and the stronger opponents they could encounter in the Second World War. It is a counterfactual design suggestion, and the discussion does not establish that Britain adopted it or that other signatories would have accepted this interpretation.
Notable Point · 16:12-17:11
Could six-inch gun supports prepare merchant ships for torpedoes?
A proposed twin six-inch mounting uses the treaty allowance for deck stiffening to explore how an armed merchant cruiser might later carry torpedoes.