Weymouth Class Cruiser (1910)

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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

Rangefinders

Evershed Bearing Indicators

This equipment was unlikely to have been fitted for gun or searchlight control.[3]

Gunnery Control

Control Positions

Control Groups

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.[4]

Secondary Battery

Transmitting Stations

There was a TS forward.[5]

Dreyer Table

These ships had no fire control tables.[6]

Fire Control Instruments

Fire Control Navyphones[7]

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:[8][9][10]

  • 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:[11]

  1. both on port
  2. both on starboard
  3. fore on port, aft on starboard
  4. 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 TS, 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 TS were provided, and a stray 2464 appears that it might be on a searchlight platform.[12]

The CL guns fore and aft could be joined to either broadside battery by 2-way switches located in the TS and the control platforms (when the control platform switches are used, the TS switches are left "off". In the other case, plugs were removed at the control platform switches).[13]

None of the ships had Target Visible or Gun Ready signals.[14]

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.[15]

See Also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Technical History and Index, Vol 3, Part 28, p. 16.
  2. ↑ Addenda (1911) to Torpedo Manual, Vol. III., 1909, p. 155.
  3. ↑ The Technical History and Index: Fire Control in HM Ships, 1919, p. 29.
  4. ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1916, p. 175.
  5. ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914, p. 65.
  6. ↑ absent from list in Handbook of Capt. F.C. Dreyer's Fire Control Tables, p. 3.
  7. ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914, Plate 99.
  8. ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1909, pp. 57, 60.
  9. ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914, p. 65.
  10. ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1910, p. 148.
  11. ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914, p. 65.
  12. ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914, Plate 99.
  13. ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914, p. 65.
  14. ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914, p. 11.
  15. ↑ 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

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