Quote:
Originally Posted by Sailor Steve
So why insist on calling it a 64pdr? Because we weren't authorized to make a 6" gun, or a 6.3" gun, we were ordered to make a new 64pdr. We have to design the shell to weigh sixty-four pounds, or it's not a 64pdr anymore!
As I said, that strikes me as extremely odd to say the least, but it also strikes me as so quintessentially British as to make perfect sense, in its own perverse way.
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I could envision the politicians clamoring for more sixty-four pounders simply because that particular shell was, in fact, synonymous with British artillery, both naval and field. Anything else, as was your point, would be un-British. In the hyper-nationalism that prevailed during both Victorian and Edwardian England, anything un-British woud have been frowned upon. The powers that be were most interested in preserving the social status quo, and it would not be a stretch of the imagination that this may also extend to the military status quo.