British Fire Control Systems at Jutland

The Battle of Jutland continues to be an interesting and controversial topic, in part because of technical arguments surrounding British gunnery and the effectiveness of its fire control.

To understand (too strong a word... "to take an informed position on?") the gunnery results of Jutland, one has to consider many factors. This article is going to address just one of these factors: the equipment each British ship carried into battle.

Caveats and Sources

Airtight and detailed documentation of this stuff is thin. While there is good documentation overall, much is dated significantly distant from the battle, and this introduces the possibility that upgrades or alterations occurred between the battle and the document's creation (regardless of which came first). Of course, the creators of most such documents were human, and some would even confess as much when pressed.

This page will have fuzzy edges and may contain errors. However, it should be substantially correct in aggregate form.

The Run to the South

Ship	Dreyer Table	Director	FTP	9-ft RFs	15-ft RFs
Lion	III	yes	yes	4	0
Princess Royal	III	yes	yes	4	0
Queen Mary	II	yes	yes	6	0
Tiger	IV	yes	yes	7	0
New Zealand	none?	yes	yes	3	0
Indefatigable	none?	yes	yes	3	0
Barham	IV*	yes	yes	1	5
Valiant	IV*	yes	yes	1	5
Warspite	IV*	yes	yes	1	5
Malaya	IV*	yes	yes	1	5

Dreyer Tables and their Use

Nearly all, but not all capital ships carried a Dreyer table.

On 24 September, Jellicoe asked his commanders to furnish more detail on their fire control during the battle, specifically asking that the paper range plots from the Dreyer tables be included with this report. Such material would comprise the most informative trove of forensic data by which we could evaluate British equipment and their use of it. However,

All ships did not furnish plots, transmission station records or other notes : reasons are explained in some of the following letters.

Ship	Submitted Plots	Summary
Revenge	No	No records maintained in action. No mention made of range cuts — only ranges on sights.
Benbow	No	From notes, Gunnery Officer Lieutenant Commander F. Elliott reported "obtained ranges on ship with 3 funnels" at 6.14. However, hits were obtained on a target an hour later after spotting down a full 1,600 yards. Implication is terrible range data, it not merely guessing.
Ajax	Yes	"Owing to the mist and smoke, this was all that could be obtained." "The trainer in Gun Control Tower had very great difficulty in seeing the object."
Erin	No	"only six ranges were taken altogether, at considerable intervals and no value could be obtained from them."
Monarch	No	No mention of even range on sights offered in report
Conqueror	Yes	"Very few ranges were taken."
Bellerophon	No	"very few ranges were obtained and though a small plot was made, the record has not been kept."
Malaya	Yes	Plot provided was from 4.00 to 4.33. "During the later stages of the action with the High Sea Fleet, ranges were few and isolated owing to low visibility." "No additional information is available."
Warspite	No	"neither the Dreyer Table chart nor any range and bearing records have been retained"
Princess Royal	No	No plot was submitted, but a detailed record of the action (profusely so, for some phases) from the fore T.S. is supplied, including timed relative bearings to the degree and timed ranges on the transmitters at 100 yard granularity.
Tiger	No	No plot was submitted, but a very detailed record of the action from the T.S. is supplied, including timed relative bearings to the degree and timed ranges on the transmitters at 100 yard granularity. Specific mention is made of rangefinder ranges as they compare to gun ranges, and of more than one rangefinder working
New Zealand	No	No plot was submitted, but a detailed record of the gun ranges is supplied at 50 yard granularity. Rangetaking is clearly occurring at the outset, but by 5.58 visibility seems too poor for spotting, let alone ranging.
Indomitable	No	"... Range Finding was most difficult. No plot was obtained."
Inflexible	No	"... only very rough range and rate records were obtained," and, except for a 5 minute period of firing at light cruisers, "... no ranges were obtained before firing...", and two of four firing periods saw no ranges taken whatsoever.

A few light cruisers were motivated by the appeal for data and offered the following in reply:

Ship	Summary
Calliope	Ranges are all divisible by 1,000 yards except one to 500 yards. No mention as to how obtained.
Constance	"all times, bearings and distances are approximate"
Inconstant	A total of 8 ranges only.
Falmouth	An outline of gun ranges and deflections of seven different target engagements from 6.07 to 8.38. After 6.30, all notes end with variations of "enemy lost to sight" despite ranges as low as 6,000 yards.
Birkenhead	Four separate impressions of worthless nature (e.g., "Smoke of enemy ships" bearing "North" at "10,000 yards (approx.)") recorded over 165 minutes.

See Also

• Battle of Jutland
• Dreyer Fire Control Table

Bibliography

• Template:BibUKDreyerTableHandbook1918
• Template:BibUKDreyerTableMarkIVRoyalOak1916
• Template:BibUKTechnicalHistoryComparisonArgoAndDreyer
• Template:BibUKRangeTablesForHMFleet1918
• Template:BibUKSightManual1916
• Template:BibUKPamphletDreyerTurretTable1930