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==See Also==
 
==See Also==
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* [[H.M.S. Canada at the Battle of Jutland]]
 
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Revision as of 16:40, 30 September 2012

H.M.S. Canada (1913)
Pendant Number: 28 (Aug 1914)
26 (Jan 1918)
01 (Apr 1918)[1]
Builder: Armstrong[2]
Ordered: Requisitioned, Aug 1914[3]
Laid down: 27 Nov, 1911
Launched: 27 Nov, 1913[4]
Commissioned: 15 Aug, 1915
Sold: Apr, 1920[5]
Fate: to Chilean Navy

H.M.S. Canada was a dreadnought originally intended for sale to Chile as Almirante Latorre , but instead was placed into service in the Royal Navy. Her 14-inch main battery was unique in British Service.

Launch

Canada was launched as Almirante Latorre on 27 November, 1913 by Mme. Edwards, wife of the Chilean Minister.

Career

Canada was commissioned on 15 August, 1915, but her sailing for Scapa Flow was delayed until October.[6]

Jutland

Main article

Captains

Dates of appointment are provided when known.

Armament

Main Battery

This section is sourced from The Sight Manual, 1916.[10]

The ten 14-in 45 calibre Mark E guns were in twin mountings. In respects to their sights, Canada's main battery guns were similar to those of Tiger and the King George V and Iron Duke class dreadnoughts, except she would have had different range drums owing to her different guns.

The sights were limited to 15 degrees elevation, but 6 degree super-elevation prisms would have been provided by 1916. The deflection gearing constant was 61.3, with 1 knot equalling 2.51 arc minutes, calculated as 2500 fps at 5000 yards. Range drums were provided for full charge at 2450 fps, three-quarter charge at 2000 fps, as well as 3-pdr sub-calibre gun and .303-in aiming rifle. Muzzle velocity was corrected by adjustable scale plate between 2560 and 2260 fps. The adjustable temperature scale plate could vary between 40 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and a "C" corrector could alter the ballistic coefficient by +/- 20%.

The periscope holder was inclined 1 degree 37 minutes (which may have effectively been 2.5 degrees for mechanical reasons; it equalled .195 degrees at 10,000 yards).

The side sighting scopes were 44.5 inches above and 47 inches abreast the bore, and the central ones 51.6 inches above and 47 inches abreast.

By 1916, it was intended that she should receive OOQ open director sights capable of 20 degrees elevation.

Torpedoes

Foure Elswick 6.3m 21-in submerged broadside tubes forward undepressed[Inference] and with forward pair bearing 80 and aft pair 100 (or 70[11]). Impulse from Elswick H.P. air.[12]

Her tubes fired a unique type of torpedo, a 21-in Mark II*** V.B., which seemed to cause her to miss out on an "increase of outfit, 21-inch broadside tubes" in 1916[13]

Torpedoes fired while at full speed (22-23 knots) from the forward tubes tended to bind in the spoons when first tested.[14]

Fire Control

Rangefinders

As completed, she had eight rangefinders: one in each turret, one in the fore top, one in an armoured hood forward, and one in the torpedo control tower.[15]

The rangefinder in Canada's T.C.T. sat on an M.Q. 10 mounting.[16]

In 1917 or 1918, Canada's T.C.T. rangefinder was replaced by a longer base length model,[17] and by 1918, two additional 9-foot instruments were provided for torpedo control, being placed abreast the compass platform.[18]

Mechanical Aid-to-Spotter

At some point, Canada was likely equipped with four Mechanical Aid-to-Spotter Mark IIs:

  • one on each side of the foretop, driven by flexible shafting from the Evershed rack on the director
  • one on each side of the Gun Control Tower employing an electrical F.T.P. system.

As the need for such gear was apparently first identified in early 1916, it seems likely that these installations were effected well after Jutland.[19][Inference]

Directors

Main Battery

Between May and December, 1915[20] she was fitted with two cam-type, tripod-mounted directors, one in an armoured tower and one in a light aloft tower,[21] as well as a directing gun in "X" turret.[22][23]

Secondary Battery

Her 6-in guns were supported by a pair of pedestal-mounted directors[24] added in February, 1918.[25]. These were situated on port and starboard forward.[26] These guns were operated in locally or under the director on their side; there was no C.O.S. permitting other modes of director control.

Torpedo Control

Eagle's arrangements are covered on her ship page, given her divergent nature from her nominal sister.

Between late 1915 and mid 1917, Canada[Fact Check] was fitted with a Torpedo Control Plotting Instrument Mark II in the TCT.[27]

Transmitting Stations

Dreyer Table

Canada had a Mark IV* Dreyer Table,[28] and no Dreyer Turret Control Tables.[29]

Fire Control Instruments

In 1916, it was approved that the ship should have a range rate transmitter/receiver pair added between T.S. and spotting top for the main armament.[30]

See Also

Footnotes

  1. Dittmar; Colledge. British Warships 1914–1919. p. 34.
  2. Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. p. 38.
  3. Dittmar; Colledge. British Warships 1914–1919. p. 33.
  4. Dittmar; Colledge. British Warships 1914–1919. p. 34.
  5. Dittmar; Colledge. British Warships 1914–1919. p. 34.
  6. Commander Matthew Best's notebook. Liddle Collection. University of Leeds. RNMN/BEST. Box 1. Volume III.
  7. The Navy List (October, 1915). p. 392p.
  8. The Navy List (October, 1917). p. 392c.
  9. The Navy List (August, 1919). p. 750.
  10. The Sight Manual, 1916. pp. 4, 23-26, 28, 106, 108, 109, Plates 3-5.
  11. Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1918. p. 51.
  12. Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1915. p. 36.
  13. Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1916. p. 36. The meaning of this is not entirely clear from the source, but it appears to be the supply of torpedoes.
  14. Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1916. p. 75.
  15. Burt. British Battleships, p. 235.
  16. Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1918. p. 175.
  17. Burt. British Battleships, p. 240.
  18. Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1918. p. 177.
  19. The Technical History and Index, Vol. 3, Part 23. pp. 25-6.
  20. The Technical History and Index: Fire Control in HM Ships, pp. 9-10.
  21. The Director Firing Handbook. p. 142.
  22. The Director Firing Handbook. p. 88.
  23. Burt. British Battleships, p. 235.
  24. The Director Firing Handbook. p. 143.
  25. The Technical History and Index: Fire Control in HM Ships, p. 16.
  26. The Director Firing Handbook. p. 91.
  27. Handbook of Torpedo Control, 1916. p. 38.
  28. Handbook of Captain F. C. Dreyer's Fire Control Tables, 1918. p. 3.
  29. Handbook of Captain F. C. Dreyer's Fire Control Tables, 1918. p. 3.
  30. Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1916. p. 145.

Bibliography

  • H.M.S. Vernon. (Jan 1916) Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1915. C.B. 1166. Copy 1025 at The National Archives. ADM 189/35.
  • Admiralty, Technical History Section (1919). The Technical History and Index: Fire Control in H.M. Ships. Vol. 3, Part 23. C.B. 1515 (23) now O.U. 6171/14. At The National Archives. ADM 275/19.
  • 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.
  • Admiralty, Gunnery Branch (1917). The Director Firing Handbook. O.U. 6125 (late C.B. 1259). Copy No. 322 at The National Archives. ADM 186/227.
  • Admiralty, Gunnery Branch (1918). Handbook of Captain F. C. Dreyer's Fire Control Tables, 1918. C.B. 1456. Copy No. 10 at Admiralty Library, Portsmouth, United Kingdom.



Dreadnought H.M.S. Canada
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