Difference between revisions of "Arethusa Class Cruiser (1913)"

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The eight [[Light Cruiser|light cruisers]] of the '''Arethusa Class''' (sometimes called the ''Birmingham'' subclass of the ''Town Class'' or the ''Royalist'' class) were completed in 1914 and 1915.
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The eight [[Light Cruiser|light cruisers]] of the '''Arethusa Class''' (sometimes called the ''Birmingham'' subclass of the ''Town Class'' or the ''Royalist'' class) were completed in 1914 and 1915. Two were in service at outset of war, followed soon by the remaining six.<ref>''Technical History and Index'' Vol. 4, Part 36, p. 4.</ref>
  
 
==Armament==
 
==Armament==
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==Bibliography==
 
==Bibliography==
 
{{refbegin}}
 
{{refbegin}}
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*{{BibUKTHVol4Part34}}
 
*{{BibUKDirectorFiringHandbook1917}}
 
*{{BibUKDirectorFiringHandbook1917}}
 
*{{BibUKHandbookFireControlInstruments1909}}
 
*{{BibUKHandbookFireControlInstruments1909}}

Revision as of 18:50, 4 August 2011

The eight light cruisers of the Arethusa Class (sometimes called the Birmingham subclass of the Town Class or the Royalist class) were completed in 1914 and 1915. Two were in service at outset of war, followed soon by the remaining six.[1]

Armament

The ships were armed as follows.[2]

Guns

As built, the ships had

  • Six semi-automatic 4-in 45cal QF Mark IV guns, 3 on each broadside.
  • Two 6-in 45cal BL Mark XII guns on centre-line fore and aft
  • One 3-pdr on HA mounting

During the war, some of the ships were altered to have

  • Four 4-in guns, 2 on each broadside.
  • Three 6-in guns

At the same time, the mountings for the 6-in guns were modified to permit 20 degree rather than 15 degree maximum elevation.[3]

More data on alterations in Conway's.

Torpedoes

  • Four 21-in above water tubes, in two twin mountings

In 1917, the ships received 2 additional tubes port and starboard — first abreast the aft 6-in, and later afore the foremost CL twin tubes.

Fire Control

Rangefinders

Sometime during or after 1917, an additional 9-foot rangefinder being handed down from a battleship or battlecruiser (likely an F.T. 24) was to be added specifically to augment torpedo control.[4]

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.[5]

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.[6]

Gunnery Control

Control Positions

Control Groups

It seems the guns were in 4 groups, with the 4-in broadsides being separate and the 2 6-in guns being separate or jointly worked:[7] The port and starboard 4-in batteries had separate transmitters in the TS. The 6-in guns had 2 sets of transmitters in the TS with a C.O.S. to permit control from:

  • fore control (presuming this means one set of transmitters in the TS)
  • after control (presuming this means the other set of transmitters in the TS)
  • separate control

Directors

In 1916, it was approved that the ships of this class should be retrofitted with directors as time, resources and opportunity permitted.[8]

All eight ships were fitted with directors in 1917 and 1918.[9]

Elevation and Training Circuits
Director Firing Handbook, 1917, Plate 81.

The director was on a pedestal mounting without a tower. Likely, there was no directing gun.[10] The mixed armament required the director to have separate sets of elevation and training transmitting gear, though a single slewing transmitter sufficed for all guns. The director had elevation and training receivers for the 6-in guns, but not for the 4-in guns.[11]

The elevation limits of their weapons may have increased in late 1917 or early 1918, resulting in orders for adapting their director systems issued 13 November, 1917. It is not clear whether these alterations were for the entire class or just Arethusa herself, or when they were effected.[12]

Transmitting Stations

Dreyer Table

These ships had no fire control tables.[13]

Fire Control Instruments

Vickers Mark III F.T.P. to the gunsights.[14] Fire gongs fitted at each gun worked from pushes for each group (4?) in the TS.[15]

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.[16]

See Also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Technical History and Index Vol. 4, Part 36, p. 4.
  2. ↑ Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1906-1921, p. 55.
  3. ↑ Progress in Naval Gunnery, 1914-1918", p. 10.
  4. ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1917, p. 199. (possibly pertinent: C.I.O. 481/17)
  5. ↑ The Technical History and Index: Fire Control in HM Ships, 1919, p. 29.
  6. ↑ The Technical History and Index: Fire Control in HM Ships, 1919, p. 29.
  7. ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914, p. 64.
  8. ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1916, p. 175.
  9. ↑ The Technical History and Index: Fire Control in HM Ships, 1919, pp. 11-12.
  10. ↑ 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.
  11. ↑ The Director Firing Handbook, 1917. Plate 81.
  12. ↑ The Technical History and Index: Fire Control in HM Ships, 1919, pp. 14.
  13. ↑ absent from list in Handbook of Capt. F.C. Dreyer's Fire Control Tables, p. 3.
  14. ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914, p. 64.
  15. ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914, p. 64.
  16. ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1916, p. 146.

Bibliography

Template:CatClassUKLightCruiser

Template:Arethusa Class (1913)

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