Talisman Class Destroyer (1915)

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Four destroyers of the Talisman Class were completed for the Turkish Navy but taken up for Royal Navy service in the war.

They were large, with five 4-in Q.F. guns, making them more like a Flotilla Leader when in Royal Navy service. They were used in submarine flotillas, primarily.

Overview of 4 vessels
Citations for this data available on individual ship pages
Name Builder Laid Down Launched Completed Fate
Talisman Hawthorn Leslie & Company 15 Jul, 1915
Termagant Hawthorn Leslie & Company 26 Aug, 1915
Trident Hawthorn Leslie & Company 20 Nov, 1915
Turbulent Hawthorn Leslie & Company 5 Jan, 1916 12 May, 1916 Rammed 1 Jun, 1916

Armament

4-in Guns

Torpedoes

Other Weapons

Depth charges were added to most of the "M" class destroyers, necessitating that some land their aft gun to accommodate the outfit.[1] This may apply here.

Fire Control

Range and Order Instruments[2]

By the end of 1915, at least, these ships had or were to be provided a range and order data system similar recent Barr and Stroud patterns.[3]

The scheme placed the combined transmitter on the forebridge, and a combined receiver near the sightsetter position of each gun. Ranges from 0 to 9900 yards in increments of 100 yards, and orders were "Independent", "Control" and "Fire" with illuminated indicators and a red indicator on the receivers to signal loss of power from the battery pack located below decks.

Mid-1916 Outfit

Experiments from February with two Grand Fleet destroyers employing dumaresqs and Vickers Range Clocks and voicepipes showed definite advantages over ships using unaided spotting and voicepipes, even when the crews had no special training in the new equipment. Tests were also conducted to find a rangefinder suitable to the lively and cramped platform that destroyers provided. This led to an order on 3 April, 1916 that each T.B.D. of "M" class and later should be equipped with:[4][5]

Two ratings, trained before coming aboard, were added to the crew to work the equipment. The clocks and rangefinders were issued in the following three months, and the dumaresqs a few months later. The data instruments did not become available in numbers until 1917. By mid-1917, the whole system was broadly in place in the destroyers of the Grand Fleet and in the Harwich Force.[6]

Director Firing

In 1917, it was decided that the three surviving units, along with destroyers of "L" class and later, should be equipped for director firing.[7]

See Also

Footnotes

  1. The Technical History and Index, Vol. 4, Part 34. p. 14.
  2. Admiralty.  Handbook of Fire Control in Torpedo Boat Destroyers of "M" Class and Later and Flotilla Leaders, 1915, Plate XV.
  3. Admiralty. Handbook of Fire Control in Torpedo Boat Destroyers of "M" Class and Later, and Flotilla Leaders, 1915, p. 3.
  4. The Technical History and Index, Vol. 3, Part 23. p. 31.
  5. Progress in Naval Gunnery, 1914-1918. p. 35.
  6. The Technical History and Index, Vol. 3, Part 23. pp. 31, 32.
  7. Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1917. p. 229.

Bibliography

  • Gray, Randal (editor) (1985). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. London: Conway Maritime Press. (on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk).


Talisman Class Destroyer
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