The Royal Navy's standardization problem extended below battleship armament. Its medium-caliber weapons included 5.5-inch, 5.25-inch, 4.7-inch, and 4-inch guns, alongside work on other calibers. Several 4.7-inch arrangements complicate the count, and there is disagreement over which older versions still remained available. Large stores of 6-inch and 4-inch weapons also supplied armed merchant ships. Wartime availability therefore depended partly on the Navy's existing stock of older guns.
Notable Point · 4:54:47-4:56:09
The Royal Navy's many medium-caliber gun systems
Varied calibers and old gun stocks complicated standardization while providing weapons for wartime merchant armament.