Drake Class Cruiser (1901)
From The Dreadnought Project
The four armoured cruisers of the Drake Class were completed in 1902 and 1903.
Fire Control
Rangefinders
Evershed Bearing Indicators
Gunnery Control
Control Positions
Control Groups
Directors
Main Battery
Secondary Battery
Torpedo Control
Transmitting Stations
Dreyer Table
These ships never received Dreyer tables.[1]
Fire Control Instruments
By 1909, the 4 ships in this class were split into two different types of fire control equipment.
King Alfred differed from the other 3 ships in the class by having Barr and Stroud Mark II instruments for range and rate, B & S Mark I for orders, and Vickers instruments for deflection:[2]
- Range (B. & S. Mark II): 6 transmitters, 33 receivers
- Orders (B. & S. Mark I): 6 transmitters, 20 receivers
- Rate (B. & S. Mark II): 4 transmitters, 8 receivers
- Deflection (Vickers): 6 transmitters, 27 receivers
- Group Switches: 3 (converted by Chatham)
- Siemens Turret fire gongs: 4 with 2 keys
- Vickers Fire Gongs: 16 with 4 keys
- Siemens Captain's Cease Fire Bells: 20 with 1 key
Drake, Good Hope and Leviathan were equipped with Vickers, Son and Maxim instruments for range, deflection and orders and with Barr and Stroud rate instruments:[3]
- Vickers range transmitters: 6
- Vickers deflection transmitters: 6
- Vickers combined range and deflection receivers: 28 (27 in Drake)
- Vickers C.O.S.: 3
- Vickers Check fire switches: 6
- Barr and Stroud rate transmitters: 4
- Barr and Stroud rate receivers: 8
- Siemens Fire Gongs (turrets): 4 with 2 keys
- Vickers Fire Gongs (elsewhere): 16 with 4 keys (Siemens in Good Hope)
- Siemens Captain's Cease Fire Bells: 20 with 1 key
These ships lacked Target Visible and Gun Ready signals.[4]
See Also
Footnotes
- ↑ Handbook of Capt. F.C. Dreyer's Fire Control Tables. p. 3.
- ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1909. pp. 56, 59.
- ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1909, pp. 56, 60.
- ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914. p. 11.
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:BibBrooksDreadnoughtGunnery
- Template:BibUKDirectorFiringHandbook1917
- Template:BibUKDreyerTableHandbook1918
