Reports on Interned German VesselsPart V Gunnery MaterialsOctober 1920
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.
Random notes extractedSome 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. |