WAR AT SEA
THE SECOND WORLD WAR
Desperate times required desperate measures and the need to protect merchant shipping gave rise to the establishment of the DEMS organisation, comprising on-board gunners to protect against air attack. It was an impromptu organisation with a motley selection of weaponry as David J B Smith explains
By late 1938 the British population were living under the shadow of a possible war with Germany. If war came to Britain’s door, then a high percentage of essential supplies would need to be imported and an equal number of arms, ammunition and men would likely be exported. Very quickly, the Admiralty realised that Great Britain needed to keep its sea lanes open and to protect its valuable commerce and trade convoys - at all cost. In June 1939, as war loomed ever closer, an ambitious Admiralty Trade Division programme was established with the Admiralty echoing the Defensively Armed Merchant Ship (DAMS) policy used in the Great War as it sought to arm around 5,500 merchant vessels – mostly with an anti-aircraft defence capability.
The retrofitting of weapons to both small and large merchant platforms required a ship’s superstructure to be strengthened in preparation for the arriva…
