Birmingham Class Cruiser (1913)

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Three of the four light cruisers of the Birmingham Class were completed in 1914, but Adelaide was completed in 1922.

They were sometimes treated as the third sub-type of an encompassing "Town Class" which included the five earlier Bristol, four Weymouth, and six Chatham class as well as the following two Birkenhead class cruisers.

Armament

The ships were armed as follows.[1]

Guns

  • Nine 6-in 45cal BL Mark XII guns; 4 on each broadside and 1 on CL aft.
  • Four 3-pdr

In 1915, all received a 3-in 20 cwt Mark I gun on HA mounting on a centreline platform abaft the funnel.

Torpedoes

  • Two 21-in submerged broadside tubes

Fire Control

Fire Control Systems[2]
Fire Control Navyphones[3]

Mechanical Aid-to-Spotter

By 1920, the two extant ships were equipped with Mechanical Aid-to-Spotter Mark II*s with Evershed Bearing Transmitters.[4] The installations generally consisted of placing one on each side of the foretop, driven by flexible shafting from a gearbox on the director tower's Evershed rack.[5]

Supplies of these instruments began in June 1918.[6]

Range Dials

As of 1920, the two extant vessels Birmingham and Lowestoft were each equipped with two Range Dial Type Cs, and Adelaide was intended to, also.[7]

Rangefinders

Evershed Bearing Indicators

This equipment was unlikely to have been fitted for gun or searchlight control.[8]

Gunnery Control

Control Positions

There was a control top and a control platform aft with a navyphone connection between them. Both positions enjoy voicepipe connection to the T.S..[9]

Control Groups

Each broadside was arranged in 2 groups of 2 guns each. The CL gun aft was a separate group that can be operated independently or assigned to one of either aft broadside group by a C.O.S.[10]

Three 2-way change-over switches in the T.S. route signals:

  1. One is fitted in No. 1 group (forward) starboard guns circuit
  2. One is fitted in No. 1 group (forward) port guns circuit
  3. One assigns the aft CL gun to port or starboard after group's circuit

When change-over switches 1 or 2 are in their first position, the forward group is worked by its own panel of transmitters in the TS. In position 2, the forward group it is wired to is worked jointly with the aft group on the same broadside. That is, the settings are "split the broadside" or "work the fore group with the aft group".

Navyphones are also controlled by the same C.O.S. system, with telaupads at each gun. Five navyphones are in the TS to address the guns. A pair of navyphones were directly wired between the control top and the after control platform, and both platforms communicated to the T.S. by voicepipe.[11]

Directors

In 1916, it was approved that the ships of this class should be retrofitted with directors as time, resources and opportunity permitted.[12]

Birmingham and Lowestoft were fitted with directors in 1917 and 1918.[13] It is likely that Adelaide completed with one in place, as she was not completed before 1918.[Inference]

Transmitting Stations

There was a single T.S. with navyphones, 3 C.O.S. and 4 sets of transmitters with fire pushes.[14]

Dreyer Table

These ships had no fire control tables.[15]

Fire Control Instruments

Vickers F.T.P. instruments, presumably Mark III.[16][Inference]

Torpedo Control

In 1916, it was decided that all light cruisers of Bristol class and later should have torpedo firing keys (Pattern 2333) fitted on the fore bridge, in parallel with those in the CT, and that a flexible voice pipe be fitted between these positions. Additionally, those with submerged tubes were to be equipped with gyro angle and order instruments from fore bridge (and after control position, if present) to the tubes. Birmingham class, if we infer it to be part of the Chatham class mentioned in the source, already has (or will have) Barr and Stroud for this purpose.[17]

See Also

Footnotes

  1. Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1906-1921, p. 54.
  2. Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1913, Plate 63.
  3. Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914, Plate 98.
  4. Manual of Gunnery of H.M. Fleet, Volume III, 1920, p. 35.
  5. Manual of Gunnery of H.M. Fleet, Volume III, 1920, p. 35, 37.
  6. The Technical History and Index: Fire Control in HM Ships, 1919, pp. 25-6.
  7. Manual of Gunnery of H.M. Fleet, Volume III, 1920, p. 45.
  8. The Technical History and Index: Fire Control in HM Ships, 1919, p. 29.
  9. Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914, p. 65.
  10. Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914, p. 65.
  11. Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914, Plate 63.
  12. Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1916, p. 175.
  13. The Technical History and Index: Fire Control in HM Ships, 1919, pp. 11-12.
  14. Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914, p. 65.
  15. absent from list in Handbook of Capt. F.C. Dreyer's Fire Control Tables, p. 3.
  16. Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914, p. 65.
  17. Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1916, p. 146.

Bibliography

  • H.M.S. Vernon. (Feb 1914) Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1913, with Appendix (Wireless Telegraphy). Copy 42 at The National Archives. ADM 189/33.
  • 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:DreyerTableH1918
  • Template:FireControlInHMShips1919


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