Armoured Carrier, Wheeled - Indian Pattern

[Mike Cecil]

Not a lot of point salvaging a gun without a breech block and firing mechanism. Then there is the ammunition to be supplied.

Very nice shot of the NZ Army in Korea with their 25-pdrs and 'Trailers, Artillery, No.27 Mk.1'. Each Section of two guns had a trailer behind the tractor, and a third tractor towing two trailers as shown (as Rob said before), therefore providing each gun in the Section with two trailers worth (64 rounds) of ready-use ammunition. The two trailers were differentiated by the different loads each carried, apart from the ammunition load of 32 rounds, in 16 trays of 2 complete rounds (projectile and cartridge) in each.

Sub-Section = 1 gun & trailer & tractor
Section = two guns, three tractors, four trailers (2 x Sub-Sections)
Troop = four guns, six tractors, eight trailers. (2 x Sections)
Battery = 8 guns, 12 tractors, 16 trailers (2 x Troops)
Regiment = 24 guns, 36 tractors, 48 trailers (3 x Battery)

Mike

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Mike Cecil

Not a lot of point salvaging a gun without a breech block and firing mechanism. Then there is the ammunition to be supplied.

A lot of scrounging was going on by both sides of that conflict. The Indonesian army did not have a lot of resources, and the Netherlands Government's purchasing of military equipment was curtailed as the United Nations felt it was appropriate that Indonesia claimed independence. E.g.: the Netherlands Government had to buy vehicles direct from civilian sources, like Willys CJ jeeps and all-wheel drive trucks from Marmon-Herrington.

Combining parts and supplies from various sources could have made the guns functioning again. But without further anecdotal evidence, chances are they were scrapped by the Japanese salvage company along with the ship.

[Mike Cecil]

Hanno, I'd put the salvage and use of 25-pdrs from the Wahine in the highly doubtful category. Removing the breech block means also removing the breech block buffer, striker case, and firing mechanism, all of which would need to be 'found' to reassemble the gun into working order, then locating sufficient of the correct cartridges and projectiles. Not saying it couldn't happen, of course, just that it was highly unlikely.

Tony, I agree with you that HMNZHS Maheno's service and the ship's AIF connection is not well known. The ship's service, plus that of its younger but larger sibling HMNZHS Marama, was from mid-1915 to mid-1919. The AIF connection is mainly the treatment and transport of wounded from the ANZAC beachhead to hospitals in Egypt and Malta. Some were DOW en route and were buried at sea in the Med. Maheno went on to become an ambulance transport between Europe and the UK, so is likely to have transported AIF wounded during that phase as well.

Mike

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Mike Cecil

Hanno, I'd put the salvage and use of 25-pdrs from the Wahine in the highly doubtful category. Removing the breech block means also removing the breech block buffer, striker case, and firing mechanism, all of which would need to be 'found' to reassemble the gun into working order, then locating sufficient of the correct cartridges and projectiles. Not saying it couldn't happen, of course, just that it was highly unlikely.

You should see what the Italian army did to make demilled Sherman gun barrels usable again. Or what the Isrealis did to beg, steal, borrow and modify weaponry to equip their army.

But like I said Mike, without further anecdotal evidence chances are the 25-pdrs were scrapped by the Japanese salvage company along with the ship.