Queen Elizabeth Class Battleship (1913)

Rate of Turn

Compiled by the late Mr. Bill Schleihauf.^{[Permission Needed for Publication]}

Speed @ Rudder Angle-----Advance for 90 deg-----Tact Diameter

14 kts @ 12.5 degrees--------752 yards------------824 yards

14 kts @ 35.0 degrees--------537 yards------------475 yards

Speed after turning through X degrees:

Speed @ Rudder Angle-----45deg-----90deg-----135deg----180deg

14 kts @ 25deg-----------13.6 kts--12.4 kts--11.5 kts--11.3 kts

14 kts @ 35deg-----------11.9 kts---9.0 kts---6.8 kts---5.5 kts

23 kts @ 35deg-----------19.5 kts--15.6 kts--11.4 kts---9.7 kts

Time to turn through X degrees:

Speed @ Rudder Angle-----45deg-----90deg-----135deg----180deg----360deg

14 kts @ 12.5deg---------1m 18s----1m 59s----2m 45s----3m 35s----7m 04s

14 kts @ 35deg-----------0m 53s----1m 27s----2m 08s----2m 57s----6m 41s

23 kts @ 35deg-----------0m 37s----0m 57s----1m 19s----1m 48s----3m 51s

Torpedoes

4 Service Bar 21-in submerged broadside tubes depressed 2 degrees. Forward bearing 80 degrees, aft 100.

Fire Control

Evershed Bearing Indicators

All 5 units were likely fitted with this equipment before late 1914.^[Inference]

Details likely resembled those for the King George V class.

Mechanical Aid-to-Spotter

At some point, all ships in this class were equipped with four Mark II Mechanical Aid-to-Spotters:

• 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.

Gunnery Control

The control arrangements were almost certainly developed along lines similar to the King George V class, outlined here as follows.^[Inference]

Control Positions

The 15-in guns had 3 control positions:^{[Citation needed]}

• Gunnery control tower
• 'B' turret
• 'X' turret

The 6-in guns had 4 control positions:

1. 6-in Gun Control Tower (P & S)
2. Transmitting Station
3. Alternative Position (A) in spotting top
4. Alternative Position (B), A.K.A. "Deck Alternative Position"

Control Groups

The four 15-in turrets were each a separate group with a local C.O.S. so that it could be connected to

• Transmitting Station
• Local control from officer's position within turret

In 1915, the 6-in guns on Queen Elizabeth were divided into 3 groups on each broadside:

1. 3 guns
2. 3 guns
3. 2 guns

but this was soon to change along with a pattern already established in Warspite: removal of number 3 group, returning 2 guns and moving the others to the foredeck, presumably with some or total loss in fire control cohesion for that weapon.

Directors

Main Battery

These ships were fitted with 2 cam-type tripod-mounted directors, one in an armoured tower and one in a light aloft tower, as well as a directing gun (in 'X' turret?).

The main battery was divisible into two groups, fore ('A' & 'B') and aft ('X' & 'Y'). A C.O.S. in the TS offered the following options:

• All guns on aloft director
• All guns on armoured director
• All guns on directing gun
• Forward group on aloft director, aft group on armoured director
• Forward group on armoured director, aft group on directing gun

Each gun had a local C.O.S. with 3 positions:

• Gunlayer's firing (local trigger circuits connected)
• Director 1 (director main to local main, director aux to local aux)
• Director 2 (director main to local aux, director aux to local main)

Secondary Battery

Diagram of 6-in Director Firing Circuits
As shown in Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1915.

All units except Queen Elizabeth had a pair of pedestal-mounted directors for their secondary batteries. Queen Elizabeth's 6-in guns were supported by a pair of tripod-mounted directors.

The secondary directors were situated port and starboard high on her forward superstructure. The broadside-mounted secondary guns were in port and starboard groups, and either were laid and fired locally or under the control of the director on their side. The system in the follow-on Revenge class was so similar that the Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1915 saw fit to document the two together.

Transmitting Stations

Following evolutionary lines of development which were firming up in the King George V class, these ships probably had a TS for the main battery (with a Dreyer Table), and one for the 6-in guns (likely without a Dreyer table, or just a Turret Control Table).^[Inference]

Dreyer Table

Each ships had a Mark IV* Dreyer Table, although it is possible that Queen Elizabeth was originally given a Mark IV Dreyer Table which was later upgraded to the Mark IV* standard.

Each ship also had 4^[Inference] Dreyer Turret Control Tables.

Fire Control Instruments

Continuing the pattern established in the Colossus class, all 5 units used Mark III Vickers F.T.P. receivers on the gun sights, connected to a variety of transmitter Marks. [TO BE CONTINUED - TONE]

Barr and Stroud (probably Mark II*^[Inference]) instruments were used for other purposes.

The 6-in broadside batteries each had separate cease-fire gong circuits, each with a push in the conning tower. The gongs for the two sides were made to sound quite different in tone, and each gun had a gong, as did both 6-in control towers. The 6-in TS had 1 gong of each type.

The ships also had Gun Ready signals in the TS and control positions, but had no Target Visible signals.

See Also

• Wikipedia

Bibliography

• Template:BibUKARTS1915
• 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:BibBrooksDreadnoughtGunnery
• Template:BibUKDirectorFiringHandbook1917
• Template:BibUKDreyerTableHandbook1918