Orion Class Battleship (1910)
Contents
Armament
Main Battery
This section is sourced from The Sight Manual, 1916.[1]
The ten 13.5-in Mark V(L) guns were in Mark II (or Mark II*) mountings. The sights were similar to those in Lion and Princess Royal.
The sights were limited to 14 or 15 degrees elevation, but 6 degree super-elevation prisms would have been provided by 1916. The deflection gearing constant was 59.47, with 1 knot equalling 2.51 arc minutes, calculated as 2550 fps at 5000 yards. Range drums were provided for full charge at 2500 fps, three-quarter charge at 2100 fps, as well as 6-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%.
These sights were luxuriously equipped with a cam to correct for drift, which afforded a more precise correction than simply inclining the sight.
The side position sighting lines (parenthetically different in Conqueror) were 41.25 (22.35) inches above and 39 (40.2) inches abreast the bore, and the central scopes were 56.25 (35.85) inches above and 42 (43.5) inches abreast. The left-hand centre position sight was a free trainer's sight, able to swing freely in pitch.
OOQ open director sights capable of 20 degrees elevation had been fitted to Orion by 1916, and the others were to be fitted with them.
A box of tools was provided for every 4 sights.
Torpedoes
The ships had three 21-in submerged torpedo tubes. Orion's broadside tubes were angled at 90 degrees, and the other ships' broadside tubes were angled 10 degrees in advance of the beam.[2]
The broadside tubes forward were depressed 2 degrees and were 14 feet, 1.8125 inches below load waterline with the tube axis 2 feet, 1.1875 inches above the deck. The stern tube was depressed 1 degree and was 8.5 feet below load WL and axis 1 foot, 8.625 inches above the deck.[3]
The torpedoes for the stern tubes were probably removed sometime during or after 1916 to increase numbers available for broadside use in the fleet.[4]
Fire Control
Phones
The Orion class inaugurated use of the new Pattern 246X Navyphones and a new Graham Navyphone Exchange to permit flexible communication. The phones caused a small degree of early problem by exhibiting corrosion where their aluminum alloy case met its brass screws or where salt spray might find it. These defects were remedied in 1912 or so by sleeves for the screws and replacement brass cases for the exposed phones.
Main Battery
Both the fore and aft TS had direct-wired navyphones to each of the 5 turrets. Each turret, then, had at least 2 navyphones in it: one to each TS. 'B' and 'Q' (perhaps scheduled to be changed to 'X' in 1914),[Inference] being alternative control positions, each had an additional pair of navyphones to a 2-way C.O.S. in the fore TS offering these options:
- Fore TS to 'B', Aft TS to 'Q'
- Fore TS to 'Q', Aft TS to 'B'
The TSes were otherwise identical. Each operator of the Range, Deflection and Order instruments addressing a turret had a Patt. 2465 Special Transmitter in parallel with the Pattern 2463 Navyphone for that turret. These were wired to the direct-wired Pattern 2464 Navyphone in the turret and supported 5 sets of Telaupads (for layers, sightsetters and trainer).
Each 2463 in the TS had a switch, when left open, places it in communication with its turret. When closed, the 2463 was connected to a busbar in the TS which could multiplex the 2463s to two groups: ('A' + 'B') and ('Q' + 'X' + 'Y') or, when the busbar's own switch is closed, would cause all turrets to be addressed at once.
This general style of navyphone control was appealing enough that a modified form of it was installed in ships prior to Orion,[6] though it should be noted that eventually cylindrical C.O.S.es were used for this sort of group switching.
It is interesting to note that the navyphone grouping places 'Q' with the aft turrets, and the director grouping places 'Q' with the forward turrets. It invites speculation as to whether one was subsequently altered to agree with the other.
Secondary Battery
Rangefinders
Sometime during or after 1917, an additional 15-foot rangefinder on an open mounting was added specifically to augment torpedo control.[7]
Evershed Bearing Indicators
By 1914, Orion was fitted as follows.[8]
Orion's transmitting positions in late 1914 were
- Conning Tower
- Fore control platform (transmitters to port and starboard with C.O.S. to select one in use)
- 'B' turret
- 'Q' turret (scheduled to be changed to 'X' turret)
Monarch and Thunderer were equipped later, as noted on their Alterations sections.
The protocols for handling wooding of the turrets is outlined in the Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914.[9]
Mechanical Aid-to-Spotter
At some point, the ships were equipped with two Mark I Mechanical Aid-to-Spotters, one on each side of the foretop, keyed off the Evershed rack on the director. As the need for such gear was apparently first identified in early 1916, it seems likely that these installations were effected well after Jutland.[10]
Gunnery Control
The control arrangements were as follows.[11]
Control Positions
- Control top
- Gunnery control tower
- 'B' turret
- 'Q' turret (perhaps scheduled to be changed to 'X' in 1914)[Inference]
Some ships had C.O.S.s within the control positions so they could be connected to either TS.[12]
Control Groups
The five 13.5-in turrets were each a separate group with a local C.O.S.[Inference] so that it could be connected to
- Forward TS
- After TS
- Local control from officer's position within turret
Directors
Main Battery
The ships were fitted with a cam-type tripod-type director in a light aloft tower on the foremast along with a directing gun (in 'X' turret for Monarch and Conqueror and likely also the other two).[13][14]
This class was the first in which the main battery could be divided into forward ('A', 'B' & 'Q') and aft ('X' & 'Y') groups for split director control.[15]
A C.O.S. in the TS afforded these options:
- All turrets on aloft tower
- All turrets on directing gun
- Forward group on aloft tower, aft group on directing gun
Secondary Battery
The 4-in guns never had directors installed.[16]
Transmitting Stations
Like nearly all large British ships of the era prior to King George V and Queen Mary,[17] these ships likely had 2 TSes.
Dreyer Table
Orion and Conqueror were eventually retro-fitted with a Mark II Dreyer Tables, while Monarch and Thunderer received Mark III Dreyer Tables.[18] As of June 1918, they had not been provided Dreyer Turret Control Tables.[19]
Fire Control Instruments
Continuing the pattern established in the Colossus class, all 4 units used Vickers F.T.P. Mark III range and deflection instruments to the gun sights (with cross-connected Mark III* range transmitters[20]) and Barr and Stroud (probably Mark II*[Inference]) instruments for other purposes.[21]
The ships also had Target Visible and Gun Ready signals, with indications of which turret could see the target and which guns were ready being visible in the TSs and control positions.[22]
In July 1911, it was decided that Orion and subsequent ships should have the order receivers in turrets relocated from the old position in the central sighting hood to the rear of the turret to be used by the officer of the turret.[23]
Torpedo Control
In 1916, it was decided that arrangements were to be made that all capital ships with 21-in torpedoes to receive transmitters and receivers so that the TCT. could pass the plotted torpedo deflection to the CT., which could then use a reciprocal set of equipment to send the TCT a deflection to be placed on the sight and range to open fire. The Orion class was also to be equipped with a secondary means for firing broadside from the TCT as well as from the CT.[24]
By mid 1917 and likely a considerable time before,[Inference] all ships in the class were provided a Torpedo Control Plotting Instrument Mark I in the TCT.[25]
See Also
Footnotes
- ↑ The Sight Manual, 1916, pp. 4, 29-31, 106, 109.
- ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1917, p. 190.
- ↑ Addenda (1911) to Torpedo Manual, Vol. III., 1909, p. 155.
- ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1916, p. 36. (T.O. 168/1916)
- ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1911, p. 102.
- ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1911, p. 102.
- ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1917, p. 198. (C.I.O. 481/17)
- ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914, p. 36.
- ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914, p. 37.
- ↑ The Technical History and Index: Fire Control in HM Ships, 1919, pp. 25-6.
- ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914, p. 7.
- ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914, p. 7.
- ↑ The Director Firing Handbook, 1917. pp. 88, 142.
- ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1913, Plate 56.
- ↑ The Director Firing Handbook, 1917. p. 88.
- ↑ absent from list in The Director Firing Handbook, 1917. p. 143.
- ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914, pp. 6-7.
- ↑ Handbook of Capt. F.C. Dreyer's Fire Control Tables, p. 3.
- ↑ absent from list in Handbook of Capt. F.C. Dreyer's Fire Control Tables, p. 3.
- ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1910, p. 148.
- ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914, pp. 72.
- ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914, p. 11.
- ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1911, pp. 95.
- ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1916, p. 145.
- ↑ Handbook of Torpedo Control, 1916, p. 38. Inference based on Mark II gear being in place in other ships in 1915.
Bibliography
- Template:BibUKARTS1911
- Template:BibUKARTS1913
- Template:BibUKFireControlInHMShips1919
- 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:BibUKDirectorFiringHandbook1917
- Template:BibUKDreyerTableHandbook1918
