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Reports on Interned German Vessels

Part V Gunnery Materials

October 1920

Repository Document ID Pages Dimensions Plates
TNA ADM 186/243 10

20cm x 33cm ?

none

 

This pamphlet offers a fairly low calorie report on German equipment. The author is Mr. J. W. French, a director of Barr & Stroud. This slant makes the report heavy on the rangefinding and other optical gear. It contains no data on fire control calculating equipment, and betrays a glimpse of German officers (Lieut. Cdr Renken being the primary liaison) who are playing their cards close to their chest, perhaps not telling the whole truth at every instance.

Overall, this document is not tremendously valuable for research, but it would be nice to see the other parts (this is part V).

Here are highlights of the contents for this small 10 pager.

  • Guns and Shells ... 2 page comparison of Krupp Solid v British Wirewound guns, and German appraisals that British shells were poor quality.
  • Damage on Goeben, Bayern, and Lutzow - 2 pages
  • Director Firing Periscopes (Richtungsweiser Sehrohren) -- 4 types, 2 pages
  • Turret rangefinders <=3m types
  • Turret rangefinders 8.2m type
  • debate of coincidence v stereoscopic rangefinders (Germans allege to think British were better and to be unhappy with their own system) -- 1 page

Random notes extracted

Some Director Firing Periscopes had the means to read the pitch angle on a scale running -240 to 240, marked every 4 units, with each unit being 1/16th of a degree, or a total scale of +/- 15 degrees. This was seldom used as data, and there is no strong reason for its collection cited (ranging?)

The Germans had no director systems at Heligoland, and at Jutland 13-14 major ships had director control of bearing only.

Allegedly, Derfflinger took a 6m Zeiss coincidence RF into Jutland atop one (or more?) turrets. It was not very good.