The Dreadnought Project

This is a small handbook seemingly for compact, on-board reference by torpedomen. My copy is a thoughful gift from John Roberts, and lacks its title page. I found this most interesting for its discussion of the various types of navyphones as well as providing a snapshot of the types of torpedoes the staff was expected to use. Some notes follow the table of contents.

			Page
Chapter	I.--	Dynamos and Motors	299
Chapter	II.--	Switchboards	328
Chapter	III.--	Internal Lighting	340
Chapter	IV.--	Management of Circuits and Temporary Lighting	381
Chapter	V.--	Arc Lamps and Searchlights	394
Chapter	VI. --	Notes on Wiring and Rewiring Electrical Cables	425

PART III.

			Page
Chapter	I.--	Details of Torpedoes	433
Chapter	II.--	Torpedo Discharges and Adjustments of Torpedoes	469
Chapter	III.--	Whitehead Drill	502
Chapter	IV.--	Gyroscope and Director	560

Corrigenda to PART III.

		Page
Main features of new Torpedoes		575
Mining Appendix		597
	Observation Mines	602
	E.C. Mines	610
Electric Light Appendix		622

Index

623

NOTES

In keeping with the Torpedo Section's focus on providing electrical services and repair for all fittings on the ship, the portions of this manual which touch on telephones and fire control devices are not very good sources for modeling them or grasping entirely their functionality. Rather, the focus is on wiring and electrical components.

Howevcr, a fair number of similar devices are covered in some detail, and in the interest of putting their designations into Google-space, I'll list a few highlights of equipment covered in this volume.

p. 258 offers the following table showing the "following types of Graham navyphones are now in the Service"

Pattern 1855 Navyphone	upper deck type
Pattern 1856 Navyphone	engine room type
Pattern 2108 Navyphone	fire control
Pattern 2109 Navyphone	fire control
Pattern 2140 Navyphone	universal type
Pattern 2140A Navyphone	upper deck type
Pattern 1856A Navyphone	engine room type
Pattern 2108A Navyphone	fire control
Pattern 2109A Navyphone	fire control
Pattern 2108B Navyphone	fire control
Pattern 2109B Navyphone	fire control
Pattern 860 Navyphone	fire control
Pattern 861 Navyphone	fire control
Pattern 862 Navyphone	fire control
Pattern 863 Navyphone	general use
Pattern 541 Navyphone	cabin
Pattern 2461 Navyphone	general use
Pattern 2461A Navyphone	with bell contact
Pattern 2462 Navyphone	cabin
Pattern 2463 Navyphone	fire control
Pattern 2464 Navyphone	fire control
Pattern 2465 Navyphone	fire control (transmitter only)
Pattern 2466 Navyphone	destroyer use or exposed positions

All types are described briefly in the following pages, but the small drawings are not sufficient by themselves to grasp much of their outward appearance. The general case was that these were loudspeaker phones -- the speaker was fitted in the phone chassis and the cone faced the back bulkhead on which it was mounted, and the mouth appeared at the side of the receiver (chassis). The descriptive section for each model is fairly worthy reading, and may prove quite helpful in understanding the phones if any photographs are ever found.

p. 433 offers a list of torpedoes in service

14-inch	R.G.F., Whitehead & Co., or G. & B.,	Marks IX.,X., X*.,XI
14-inch	Weymouth	Mark I.
18-inch	R.N.T.F., R.G.F., Whitehead & Co., or G. & B.	Marks I., II., III., IV., V., V., V. G.S., VI. VI. G.S., VI., VI.H., VI.,H., VI.H., VII., VII., VII., VI*.
18-inch	Fiume	Marks III., III., III., III.H.
18-inch	Weymouth	Marks I., I*.
21-inch	R.N.T.F., R.G.F., or Whitehead & Co.	Marks I.,I., II., II., II., II*.
21-inch	Weymouth	Marks II., III., III*.

Following sections outline practice collision head parameters for each, buoyancy, air charges, firing pistols, counter gears (which could limit the run or sink or float the torpedo at the end for practice), sinking gear, time for bubbles to rise to surface, controlling gear, special notes on fire from "G" class destroyers, etc.

The small section on Directors offers this data.

Director Pattern	Notes
1192	large semicircular director, not used in modern ships
1193, 1895	have 60 degree arcs, used in earlier torpedo craft
2390	similar to 1895, but graduated for higher speeds of new heater torpedoes
2387, 2388, 2389	same as 1192, 1193, and 2390 respectively, but fitted to be able to fire from the bridge (presumably, by addition of a tangent bar)
1192a, 1193a, 1895a, 2390a, 2387a, 2388a, 2389a	Same as above types, but with increased stiffening added to make them sturdier
2006	Used in conning and director towers of earlier ships
2391, 2392	Right- and left-hand directors used in conning and director towers of later ships
2006a, 2391a, 2392a	Same as above, but fitted for angling
2380	For above water tubes, similar to 2390a but larger and of improved construction

p. 569:

Experience from range firings showed that for R.G.F. Heaters at long range setting and full air charge,

i.)	mean speed for first 1000 yards may be about a knot above the stamped speed
ii.)	mean speed increased up to about 2/3rds of the full range. Up to this point, mean speed may be expected to be up to 1.5 knots above the stamped speed
iii.)	after this, the drop in mean speed is fairly rapid, matching that stamped up to full range

Lists of water temperature corrections follow, indicating the affects on speed.

Additional Resources

Andy303 from my BBS pointed out a French site on the Titanic featuring some images of two of the Navyphones in this manual. Judging from their similarity to the simple drawings in this Drill Book, I have made the following tentative identifications. I suggest you check the site for more images (as well as some interesting data on the Titanic!).


Pattern 2461	Pattern 2461 on Titanic's Poop Deck	Pattern 2462 (mounted sideways?)

Torpedo Drill Book 1914

1914

PART I.

PART II.

PART III.

Corrigenda to PART III.

NOTES

Additional Resources