Q&A ยท 23:20-23:48

When warships stopped landing major guns

Landing naval guns for service ashore survived into the early twentieth century before largely disappearing with the First World War.

Question

When did major warships stop dismounting cannon for use in land campaigns?

Short answer

The practice persisted through the Boxer Rebellion and into the First World War, then largely ceased as a normal expeditionary method.

Notes

Naval guns were still used ashore around the Boxer Rebellion and possibly in the First World War. By the Second World War, removing a major vessel's weapons for an expeditionary land battery was no longer normal practice, although guns from lost ships could still become fixed coastal batteries.