Weymouth Class Cruiser (1910): Difference between revisions
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Revision as of 01:14, 19 July 2012
The four light cruisers of the Weymouth Class (sometimes called Improved Bristol Class, or referred to as the Weymouth subclass of the "Town Class") were completed by 1912. They consolidated the mixed battery of the Bristol class into a uniform battery of eight 6-in guns.
Armament
6-in Guns
- Eight 6-in guns on P VI mountings; 3 on each broadside and 2 on CL fore and aft
These mountings were the first transferable mountings to be hydraulically worked in elevation. In this class with its quick motion, it proved too cumbersome for continuous aim. Three of the ships had hydraulic training added in 1914, but reports on it were mixed.[1]
Torpedoes
The ships had two 21-in submerged broadside tubes forward depressed 2 degrees, 4 feet 7 inches below load waterline with the axis of the tube 1 foot 5 inches above the deck.[2]
Fire Control
Mechanical Aid-to-Spotter
By 1920, the three surviving ships were equipped with Mechanical Aid-to-Spotter Mark II*s with Evershed Bearing Transmitters, apparently the earliest light cruisers to be given such equipment.[3] The installations generally consisted of placing one on each side of the foretop, driven by flexible shafting from a gearbox on the director tower's Evershed rack.[4]
Supplies of these devices began in June 1918.[5]
Range Dials
As of 1920, the three surviving ships were each equipped with a Range Dial Type B and a Type C.[6]
Rangefinders
Evershed Bearing Indicators
This equipment was unlikely to have been fitted for gun or searchlight control.[7]
Gunnery Control
Directors
Main Battery
In 1916, it was approved that the ships of this class should be retrofitted with directors as time, resources and opportunity permitted.[8]
Secondary Battery
Transmitting Stations
There was a T.S. forward.[9]
Dreyer Table
These ships had no fire control tables.[10]
Fire Control Instruments
In 1909, it was planned that all four ships in this class were to be completed with the latest Vickers Mark II F.T.P. Fire Control Instruments, but soon after Mark III is indicated, as follows:[12][13][14]
- Range Transmitters: 2 (P & S)
- Deflection Transmitters: 2 (P & S)
- Range Receivers: 8
- Deflection Receivers: 8
- C.O.S.: none
- Vickers Fire Gongs: 8 with 2 keys
By 1915, a 4-way C.O.S. had been added to permit some freedom in assigning the CL guns to either broadside group:[15]
- both on port
- both on starboard
- fore on port, aft on starboard
- aft on port, fore on starboard
In addition, Pattern 2464 navyphones in the control platforms addressing telaupads at the guns supported a finer control by breaking each broadside down into 2 groups, fore and aft. 3-way change-over (fore, after, separate) switches dictated which navyphones addressed which guns. The aft navyphones were in the aft control platform. The fore navyphones could be either in the fore control platform or plugged in in the T.S., though the image from 1914 provided shows these remoted to the conning tower. Curiously, two guns per broadside (only) were also given Pattern 2464 phones. A pair of 2463s and 2465s in the T.S. were provided, and a stray 2464 appears that it might be on a searchlight platform.[16]
The centre line guns fore and aft could be joined to either broadside battery by two-way switches located in the T.S. and the control platforms (when the control platform switches are used, the T.S. switches are left "off". In the other case, plugs were removed at the control platform switches).[17]
None of the ships had Target Visible or Gun Ready signals.[18]
Torpedo Control
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. Additionally, those with submerged tubes were to be equipped with gyro angle and order instruments from fore bridge (and after control position, if present) to the tubes. Weymouth class already has (or will have) Barr and Stroud for this purpose.[19]
See Also
Footnotes
- ↑ Technical History and Index, Vol 3, Part 28, p. 16.
- ↑ Addenda (1911) to Torpedo Manual, Vol. III., 1909, p. 155.
- ↑ Manual of Gunnery of H.M. Fleet, Volume III, 1920, p. 35.
- ↑ Manual of Gunnery of H.M. Fleet, Volume III, 1920, p. 35, 37.
- ↑ The Technical History and Index: Fire Control in HM Ships, 1919, pp. 25-6.
- ↑ Manual of Gunnery of H.M. Fleet, Volume III, 1920, p. 45.
- ↑ The Technical History and Index: Fire Control in HM Ships, 1919, p. 29.
- ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1916, p. 175.
- ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914, p. 65.
- ↑ absent from list in Handbook of Capt. F.C. Dreyer's Fire Control Tables, p. 3.
- ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914, Plate 99.
- ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1909, pp. 57, 60.
- ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914, p. 65.
- ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1910, p. 148.
- ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914, p. 65.
- ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914, Plate 99.
- ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914, p. 65.
- ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914, p. 11.
- ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1916, p. 146.
Bibliography
- 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 (1914). Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914. G. 01627/14. C.B. 1030. Copy 1235 at The National Archives. ADM 186/191.
- Template:BibUKDreyerTableHandbook1918
