King Edward VII Class Battleship (1903)
Fire Control Systems
The general system of wiring between the TSs in ships prior to Lord Nelson class is illustrated in Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914[1].
Rangefinders
Evershed Bearing Indicators
Installed by late 1914, these ships appear to have had a single transmitter with all-around training, addressing the fore and aft turrets as receiving stations[2].
Gunnery Control
The ship's guns were organized in 5 groups[3]:
- Two 12-in turrets
- Two Starboard 9.2-in turrets
- Two Port 9.2-in turrets
- Starboard 6-in guns
- Port 6-in guns
Local Control in Turrets
There was no provision in these ships for local turret control wherein the receivers in the turret could be driven by transmitters in the officer's position at the back of the turret[4].
Directors
These ships never received directors for main or secondary batteries[5].
Torpedo Control
Transmitting Stations
These ships had fore and aft TSs[6].
A C.O.S. allowed control options of
- Fore
- After
- Separate
Each group had transmitters (of various kind, see Shipwide Network) with a pair of receivers, one wired directly to the transmitter as a tell-tale, and the other fed off the wires going to the distant guns (i.e., the aft guns for the fore TS and vice-versa) as a repeat. "These repeat receivers are necessary to keep the idle transmitters in step; when changing back from separate control they are required to enable both halves of the group to be set alike before being paralleled on to one transmitter."[7]
Dreyer Table
These ships never received Dreyer tables[8].
Shipwide Network
By late 1914, these ships were equipped with range, orders and deflection circuits, with those in Africa, Britannia, Dominion and Hibernia being Vickers, Son and Maxim with Barr and Stroud rate instruments and those in Commonwealth, Hindustan, King Edward VII and Zealandia being Barr and Stroud Mark II[9].
These ships lacked Target Visible and Gun Ready signals[10].
See Also
Footnotes
- ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914, p. 50 & Plates 50 and 54(I).
- ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914, Plate 42, but glaringly not mentioned on pp. 39-40.
- ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914, p. 8.
- ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914, p. 50.
- ↑ Director Firing Handbook, 1917, pp. 142-3.
- ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914, p. 50 & Plates 50 and 54(I).
- ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914, pp. 50-1.
- ↑ Handbook of Capt. F.C. Dreyer's Fire Control Tables, p. 3.
- ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914, p. 72.
- ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914, p. 11.
Bibliography
Admiralty, Gunnery Branch (1914). Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914. G. 01627/14. C.B. 1030. Copy 1235 at The National Archives. ADM 186/191. Template:BibUKDirectorFiringHandbook1917 Template:BibUKDreyerTableHandbook1918