Study of three seamen loading a 4-inch gun on HMS 'Champion'

Inscribed 'Champion' by the artist in pencil, lower right, the main watercolour study here is of a 4-inch, 45-calibre Q.F (quick-firing) Mark IV gun on the light cruiser 'Champion' (launched 29 May 1915 and completed in December 1915). In early 1918 all of the ship's eight 4-inch guns had been removed and replaced by two 6-inch guns and the 4-inch shell being loaded here seems to be exceptionally (i.e., unrealistically) long. The round is either 'live' with an integral shell or a full dummy and naval seamen doing it are in parade uniform, not battle-dress, so whatever is in progress is a demonstration only and quite possibly specifically for Wyllie to sketch it. The small pencil sketch in the bottom right is the starboard bow of a 'Queen Elizabeth'-class battleship. While the other to the left includes a small-calibre deck gun it is otherwise indeterminate