British merchant ships made suitable to be armed according to the Dutch magazine Marineblad dated 1939 no. 6Marineblad 1939 no. 6

An item referred to the magazine U.S.R. dated 20 April 1939 reporting that the First Lord of the Admiralty Lord Stanhope (1) stated that the navy dockyards worked very hard with strengthening the decks of merchant ships. This was needed if the ships were eventually fitted out with anti submarine and anti aircraft guns. Stanhope expected that end 1939 around 1.000 ships were prepared to be armed.

Note

1. James Richard Stanhope, 13^th Earl of Chesterfield and 7^th Earl Tanhope (11 November 1880-15 August 1967), conservative politician, who was First Lord between 27 October 1938 and 3 September 1939 and succeeded by Winston Churchill.