Birkenhead Class Cruiser (1915)

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The two light cruisers of the Birkenhead Class were completed in 1915 and 1916.

They were often regarded as the last sub-type of the encompassing "Town" class which also included the five Bristol, four Weymouth, six Chatham, and four Birmingham class cruisers.

Armament

The ships were armed as follows.[1]

Guns

  • Ten 5.5-in 50cal B.L. Mark I
  • One 3-in 20cwt Mark I on H.A. mounting

Torpedoes

  • Two Elswick 6.8m 21-in submerged broadside tubes forward depressed 2 degrees and bearing 90. Impulse from Elswick H.P. air.[2]

Chester successfully fired torpedoes at 25 knots, but Birkenhead fired one at 22 knots which failed to run, having seemingly been bound up. No conclusion was reached.[3]

Fire Control

Mechanical Aid-to-Spotter

By 1920, both ships were equipped with Mechanical Aid-to-Spotter Mark II*s with Evershed Bearing Transmitters.[4] The installations generally consisted of placing one on each side of the foretop, driven by flexible shafting from a gearbox on the director tower.[5]

Supplies of these devices began in June 1918.[6]

Range Dials

As of 1920, neither ship seems to have been equipped.[7]

Rangefinders

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.[8]

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.[9]

Gunnery Control

Directors

Both were fitted with directors in 1917 and 1918.[10]

The director was on a pedestal mounting in a tower on the foremast. Likely, "X" or "Y" served as a directing gun.[11]

Transmitting Stations

Dreyer Table

These ships had no fire control tables.[12]

Fire Control Instruments

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, the Birkenhead class was to receive Chadburn Torpedo Telegraphs for to convey gyro angles and orders to the submerged torpedo flat.[13]

See Also

Footnotes

  1. Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1906-1921, p. 58.
  2. Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1915, p. 36.
  3. Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1916, p. 75.
  4. Manual of Gunnery of H.M. Fleet, Volume III, 1920, p. 35.
  5. Manual of Gunnery of H.M. Fleet, Volume III, 1920, p. 35, 37.
  6. The Technical History and Index: Fire Control in HM Ships, 1919, pp. 25-6.
  7. absent from Manual of Gunnery of H.M. Fleet, Volume III, 1920, p. 45.
  8. The Technical History and Index: Fire Control in HM Ships, 1919, p. 29.
  9. The Technical History and Index: Fire Control in HM Ships, 1919, p. 29.
  10. The Technical History and Index: Fire Control in HM Ships, 1919, pp. 11-12.
  11. 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.
  12. absent from list in Handbook of Capt. F.C. Dreyer's Fire Control Tables, p. 3.
  13. Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1916, p. 146.

Bibliography


Template:Birkenhead Class (1915)


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