Coastal Artillery 1912

 

In 1912 the Overseas Defence Committee reassessed the naval threat to Aden, in essence downgrading it to an attack by three light cruisers. In 1907 the threat assessment had been that up to three armoured cruisers might attack Aden.

 

These were the type of vessel such as the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau that would form the major ships in Admiral Sheer’s five-ship China squadron that would head across the Pacific in 1914. He might have decided instead to enter the Indian Ocean and mount an attack on shipping at Aden. So one could argue that the 1907 assessment was much the more accurate one.

 

However, the Admiralty in 1912 took the opportunity of reiterating their view of the strategic unimportance of Aden. As far as they were concerned it was nothing more than a commercial coaling station; it had neither docks nor local trade and its location was in no way vital to naval warfare. 

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There was nothing at Aden worth the expenditure of a ship’s ammunition except the vessels that might be in the harbour.

 

As a result of this dismissive assessment it was decided to remove the four fairly modern 10-inch guns that were defending Aden from attack by armoured cruiser. A light cruiser threat only needed 6-inch guns for coastal defence. The problem at the end of 1912 was that Aden only had two modern guns of this calibre (at Tarshayne), plus eight obsolete ones at Morbut, which were due to be replaced by two more of the modern ones in due course. 

 

Since this change was not envisaged for many months it was agreed that the 10-inch guns could remain at Aden until the other two modern guns were in place.