Birkenhead Class Cruiser (1915)

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The two light cruisers of the Birkenhead Class were completed in 1915 and 1916.

They were often regarded as the last sub-type of the encompassing "Town" class which also included the five Bristol, four Weymouth, six Chatham, and four Birmingham class cruisers.

Overview of 2 vessels
Citations for this data available on individual ship pages
Name Builder Laid Down Launched Completed Fate
Birkenhead Cammell Laird 27 Mar, 1914 18 Jan, 1915 May, 1915 Sold 26 Oct, 1921
Chester Cammell Laird 7 Oct, 1914 8 Dec, 1915 May, 1916 Sold 9 Nov, 1921

Armament

The ships were armed as follows.[1]

Guns

  • Ten 5.5-in 50cal B.L. Mark I on P. I mountings[2]
  • One 3-in 20cwt Mark I on H.A. mounting

Torpedoes

  • Two Elswick 6.8m 21-in submerged broadside tubes forward depressed 2 degrees and bearing 90. Impulse from Elswick H.P. air.[3]

Chester successfully fired torpedoes at 25 knots, but Birkenhead fired one at 22 knots which failed to run, having seemingly been bound up. No conclusion was reached.[4]

Fire Control

Mechanical Aid-to-Spotter

By 1920, both ships were equipped with Mechanical Aid-to-Spotter Mark II*s with Evershed Bearing Transmitters.[5] The installations generally consisted of placing one on each side of the foretop, driven by flexible shafting from a gearbox on the director tower.[6]

Supplies of these devices began in June 1918.[7]

Range Dials

In 1918, it was ordered that these and ten other classes of light cruisers should receive "range instruments for concentration of fire". Presumably, this meant range dials.[8]

As of 1920, neither ship seems to have been equipped.[9]

Rangefinders

In 1918, it was approved that the Birkenhead class cruisers and "other Classes in Home Waters" should have a 12-foot fixed R.F. mounted atop the after gun control platform. The ships were also to report whether two 12-foot R.F.s could be accommodated on the fore bridge without structural alterations.[10]

Evershed Bearing Indicators

The Centaur class were the first light cruisers fitted with Evershed gear for gun control, but it is not clear whether older light cruisers were ever fitted.[11]

Orders for Evershed installations for searchlight control from February 1917 first applied to the Danae class, but seem unlikely to have applied to earlier ships.[12]

By June 1918, it was determined that the "Town" class cruisers would probably eventually carry two 12-foot and one 9-foot rangefinders.[13]

Gunnery Control

Directors

Both were fitted with directors in 1917 and 1918.[14]

The director was on a pedestal mounting in a tower on the foremast. Likely, "X" or "Y" served as a directing gun.[15]

They had 4-in Triple Type Elevation Receivers with mechanical tilt correction capable of indicating 15 degrees elevation, Pattern H. 15. The Small Type Training Receivers on were pattern number 20 on the forecastle gun, P1 to P3 and S1 to S3, whereas P4, S4 and the quarterdeck gun had pattern number 21.[16]

Transmitting Stations

Dreyer Table

These ships had no fire control tables.[17]

Fire Control Instruments

Torpedo Control

Torpedo Control Circuits[18]

In 1916, it was decided that all light cruisers of Bristol class and later should have torpedo firing keys (Pattern 2333) fitted on the fore bridge, in parallel with those in the CT, and that a flexible voice pipe be fitted between these positions.[19]

Additionally, in 1916, Birkenhead and Calliope classes were being fitted with Chadburn's Torpedo Telegraphs for torpedo order and gyro angle with one transmitter in the fore bridge position and one in the after position, operating separate instruments in the submerged torpedo flat. A mechanical reply was provided.[20]

By mid-1918, it had been approved to issue these ships, along with several other classes of light cruisers range repeat receivers for their fore bridge and control positions so that their captains and control officers could know the gun range. Additionally, the "Town" class cruisers were to receive two "Graham type" bearing transmitters in their spotting tops.[21]

See Also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. p. 58.
  2. ↑ The Director Firing Handbook. p. 145.
  3. ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1915. p. 36.
  4. ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1916. p. 75.
  5. ↑ Manual of Gunnery (Volume III) for His Majesty's Fleet, 1920. p. 35.
  6. ↑ Manual of Gunnery (Volume III) for His Majesty's Fleet, 1920. p. 35, 37.
  7. ↑ The Technical History and Index, Vol. 3, Part 23. pp. 25-6.
  8. ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1918. p. 376. (C.I.O. 3492/18, N.S. 11226/18).
  9. ↑ absent from Manual of Gunnery of H.M. Fleet, Volume III, 1920, p. 45.
  10. ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1918. p 179.
  11. ↑ The Technical History and Index, Vol. 3, Part 23. p. 29.
  12. ↑ The Technical History and Index, Vol. 3, Part 23. p. 29.
  13. ↑ Grand Fleet Gunnery and Torpedo Orders. 21/6/1918, p. 116.
  14. ↑ The Technical History and Index, Vol. 3, Part 23. pp. 11-12.
  15. ↑ Handbook of Captain F.C. Dreyer's Fire Control Tables, 1918., p. 142 and plate opposite.
    I am inferring that the 2 light cruisers shown in the plate are meant to represent those with and without a tower.
  16. ↑ The Director Firing Handbook. pp. 145-146.
  17. ↑ absent from list in Handbook of Capt. F.C. Dreyer's Fire Control Tables, p. 3.
  18. ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1917. Plate 76.
  19. ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1916. p. 146.
  20. ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1916. p. 30.
  21. ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1917. p. 230.

Bibliography

  • H.M.S. Vernon. (Jan 1916) Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1915. C.B. 1166. Copy 1025 at The National Archives. ADM 189/35.
  • Admiralty, Gunnery Branch (1917). The Director Firing Handbook. O.U. 6125 (late C.B. 1259). Copy No. 322 at The National Archives. ADM 186/227.
  • Admiralty, Gunnery Branch (1910). Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1909. Copy No. 173 is Ja 345a at Admiralty Library, Portsmouth, United Kingdom.
  • Admiralty, Gunnery Branch (1918). Handbook of Captain F. C. Dreyer's Fire Control Tables, 1918. C.B. 1456. Copy No. 10 at Admiralty Library, Portsmouth, United Kingdom.
  • Admiralty, Technical History Section (1919). The Technical History and Index: Fire Control in H.M. Ships. Vol. 3, Part 23. C.B. 1515 (23) now O.U. 6171/14. At The National Archives. ADM 275/19.
  • Norman Friedman. The Chester Class Cruisers in Warship Issue 17.



Birkenhead Class Light Cruiser
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