Torpedo Director Pattern 2006

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3D model of Pattern 2006 with tangent bar[1]
Pattern 2006 with tangent bar[2]
Pattern 2006 without tangent bar[3]

The Torpedo Director Pattern 2006 was a circular British torpedo director used in a variety of surface ships, created for use from conning towers with 4 inch slots limiting their overhead. An optional tangent bar allowed the lateral offset between the director and the firing tube to be accounted for.

Thirty of these compact, circular directors were ordered for trial in Vernon and at sea in 1904.[4] It is described in the Torpedo Drill Book, 1905 as the "new" director.[5]

Design

Its torpedo arm was not pivoted, and the square knob used to set enemy speed was geared such that each flat of the square knob was a knot of enemy speed (4 knots per turn). The sights were fine wires in sighting arches. The distance from the fore sight to the pivot of the sight bar was fixed at 17 inches.[6]

When used with a pivoting tube, the entire director might be situated on a revolving table to align its non-pivoting torpedo arm with the tube.[7]

Probably ready for service in 1905,[8] it was used in conning towers and director towers of "earlier ships" (as judged by 1912[9]).

The directors had slides underneath permitting some lateral motion (3 inches?) to look around obstacles.[10]

It was graduated for torpedo speeds of 15 to 40 knots, and for enemy speeds of zero to 30 knots. The sight bar bore a scale requiring arithmetic to calculate a running range, given an estimated range to the enemy as an input.[TO BE CONTINUED - TONE]

Alterations

New Night Sight attachment for Pattern 2006[11]

In 1909, when the increased speeds of heater torpedoes could exceed 40 knots, it was decided not to alter the 2006's scale, as the capital ships carrying it would, by doctrine, not set their torpedoes to these high speeds, instead using the heaters' enhanced range settings at lower speeds. In any event, it was to be the case that should such fire be required, the director would be set to half speed of torpedo and enemy.[12]

In 1912, a design was approved to add a central bearing disc and a Carpenter's disc sight to the director,[13] as well as a better fitting proposed by Lieutenant (T) A. A. Lovett-Cameron to permit the electric night sighting lamp to be attached without risk of harming the director.[14]

The Pattern 2006a variant was created to be able to adapt to gyro angles, seemingly during 1912 and 1913.[15][16] Inquiries were issued as to the state of these conversions in late 1913.[17]

In April 1914, the Admiralty ordered sixty Pattern 2006s to exchanged for 2006As, four each in Agamemnon, Lord Nelson, King Edward VII, Hibernia, Africa, Commonwealth, Dominion, Hindustan, Zealandia, Defence, Shannon, and Minotaur, and two each in Warrior, Cochrane, Achilles, Duke of Edinburgh and Black Prince. At the same time, all 2391s and 2392s in the Dockyards at Malta and Gibraltar were ordered to be returned to Portsmouth for conversion.[18]

By 1916, British displeasure with tangent bars was such that Pattern 2006 directors and later models brought in for repair were sent back without their tangent bars.[19] These strippings also included any Carpenter Discs.[20]

See Also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Model and render by Tony Lovell.
  2. ↑ Torpedo Manual, Vol. III, 1909. Plate 64.
  3. ↑ Handbook of Torpedo Control, 1916. Plate 3.
  4. ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1904. pp. 54-55.
  5. ↑ Torpedo Drill Book, 1905. p. 376, figure opposite p. 382.
  6. ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1904. pp. 54-55.
  7. ↑ Addenda (1911) to Torpedo Manual, Vol. III, 1909. p. 1570 (page number must be a typo.).
  8. ↑ Torpedo Drill Book, 1912. p. 381.
  9. ↑ Torpedo Drill Book, 1912. p. 495.
  10. ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1910. p. 33. (C. of N., May 1906, G. 5965/06?).
  11. ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1912. p. 28.
  12. ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1909. pp. 22-23. (G.T.O. Feb 1st 1909).
  13. ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1912. p. 25.
  14. ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1912. p. 28.
  15. ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1912. p. 25.
  16. ↑ Torpedo Drill Book, 1914. p. 564.
  17. ↑ Admiralty Weekly Order No. 614 of 31 Oct 1913.
  18. ↑ Admiralty Weekly Order No. 1019 of 17 Apr, 1914.
  19. ↑ Handbook of Torpedo Control, 1916. p. 18.
  20. ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1916. p. 25.

Bibliography

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