CAB80-8 — Page 249

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Page 249

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The 3-inch gun, therefore, may be accepted as

a more suitable gun than the 3.7-inch gun for any role

in which mobility, rate of fire, and speed of traverse are of more importance than ceiling, time of flight, and effective radius of burst.

Mobility.

The term "mobility" is used in this connection to denote "tactical mobility" and includes several factors:

(a) Ability to move across country.

(b) Speed of Lovement on roads and

across country.

purposes.

(d) Availability of suitable towing

vehicles.

(e) Speed of getting into and out of

action.

(a) Ability to move across country.

The 3 gun has a slightly higher clearance than the 3.7" and is lighter. Its ability to move across country is therefore greater, more particularly across plough or other soft ground, in which the 3.7" gun frequently gets bogged. This, in turn, gives more freedom in the choice of suitable gun positions.

(b) Speed of movement on roads and across country

On roads and firm ground, the speed of both guns is the same; but across difficult country the 3" gun moves considerably faster since less time has to be spent in reconnoitring a suitable route and in extricating guns when they are ditched.

The weight of a 3" gun is 6 tons and of its tractor 6 tons. The weight of a 3.7" gun is 10 tons and of its tractor 8 tons. The 3" gun can cross a "medium" bridge, whereas a "heavy it bridge is required for a 3.7it gun. This is of importance in a battle area where normal road bridges may be damaged,

(d) Availability of suitable towing vehicles.

Only Scammels are suitable for towing 3.7" guns. They are also required for Ledium and Heavy artillery and the supply is limited. It has not yet been possible to give the B... enough scamels to

put all their existing 3.7" guns on a fully mobile basis. There is comparatively little difficulty in providing towing vehicles for 3" guns.

CAB80-8 — Page 249

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