Invincible Class Battlecruiser (1907)
Fire Control
Rangefinders
Evershed Bearing Indicators
All units were likely fitted with this equipment by late 1914.[1]
The transmitting positions were
- Fore control platform (transmitters to port and starboard with a local switch to select one in use)
- 'A' turret
- 'X' turret
- Upper aft conning tower
The protocols for how her crew should handle wooding of the turrets was outlined in the Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914.[2]
Gunnery Control
The control arrangements were likely as follows.[3]
Control Positions
- Fore top
- Main top[Inference]
- 'A' turret[Inference]
- 'Y' turret[Inference]
Some ships had C.O.S.s within the control positions so they could be connected to either TS.[4]
Control Groups
The four 12-in turrets were separate groups, each 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 tripod-type director in a light aloft tower on the foremast along with a directing gun (in Y turret?).[5] The battery was not divisible into groups for split director firing.[6]
Secondary Battery
The 4-in broadside guns are not listed as ever having had directors installed.[7]
Torpedo Control
Transmitting Stations
Like all large British ships of the era prior to King George V and Queen Mary, these ships had 2 TSes.[8]
Dreyer Table
As of 1918, Inflexible still carried the Mark I Dreyer Table she'd been outfitted with.[9] Invincible was lost with her Mark I table at the Battle of Jutland. It appears likely that Indomitable never was fitted with a Dreyer table.[10]
The ships were never given Dreyer Turret Control Tables.[11]
Fire Control Instruments
By 1909, these ships were equipped with Barr and Stroud Mark II equipment for range, orders and deflection.[12]
The Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1909 lists the Barr and Stroud Mark II equipment on this class as:[13]
- Combined Range, Order, Deflection: 8 transmitters, 30 receivers
- Group Switches: 4
- Rate: 4 transmitters, 16 receivers
- Bearing: none
- Range: none
Additionally, this class had the following Graham fire control equipment:[14]
- Turret fire gongs: 8 with 8 keys
- Fire Gongs: none
- Captain's Cease Fire Bells: 10 with 1 key
The ships also had Target Visible and Gun Ready signals, indicating which turrets could see the target and which guns were ready in the TSes and control positions.[15]
See Also
Footnotes
- ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914, p. 34.
- ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914, p. 34.
- ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914, pp. 7-8. (some inferences drawn due to fundamental differences between this design and that of Orion to which it is likened).
- ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914, p. 7.
- ↑ The Director Firing Handbook, 1917. pp. 88, 142.
- ↑ The Director Firing Handbook, 1917. p. 88.
- ↑ The Director Firing Handbook, 1917. pp. 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.
- ↑ Handbook of Capt. F.C. Dreyer's Fire Control Tables, p. 3.
- ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1909, p. 56.
- ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1909, p. 58.
- ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1909, p. 58.
- ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914, p. 11.
Bibliography
Template:BibUKHandbookOfFireControlInstruments1909 Template:BibUKHandbookOfFireControlInstruments1914 Template:BibUKDirectorFiringHandbook1917 Template:BibUKDreyerTableHandbook1918 Template:BibSumidaIDNS Template:BibBrooksDreadnoughtGunnery Template:BibRobertsBattlecruisers Template:Invincible Class (1907)