Caroline Class Cruiser (1914)
The six light cruisers of the Caroline Class (sometimes called the Comus Class) were completed in 1914 and 1915. This class is sometimes considered part of either the Cambrian or Calliope classes (it is never easy to tell).[1]
Design
The Arethusa class had a 6-in gun forward and another aft, but this class moved the forward one aft as well in order to ensure it could be operable in any sea state and also to facilitate control of the 6-in guns.[2]
Armament
The ships were armed as follows.[3]
Guns
Original:
- Two 6-in 45cal BL Mark XII guns aft
- Eight semi-automatic 4-in 45cal QF Mark IV guns; 2 in tandem forward, 3 on each beam
1916-1917:
- Two tandem 4-in guns forward replaced by third 6-in gun.
The 6-in mountings were modified to a 20 degree elevation limit, increased from a likely former limit of 15 degrees.[4]
1917-1918:
- Fourth 6-in gun on elevated CL platform abaft funnels; all 4-in guns removed
More data on alterations in Conway's.
Torpedoes
Original:
- Four 21-in tubes in two twin mountings (abreast?)
Later:
- additional (twin?) tubes mounted abaft originals
More data on alterations in Conway's.
Fire Control
Rangefinders
Sometime during or after 1917, an additional 9-foot rangefinder being handed down from a battleship or battlecruiser (likely an F.T. 24) was to be added specifically to augment torpedo control.[5]
Evershed Bearing Indicators
The Centaur class were the first light cruisers fitted with Evershed gear for gun control, but it is not clear whether older light cruisers were ever fitted.[6]
Orders for Evershed installations for searchlight control from February 1917 first applied to the Danae class, but seem unlikely to have applied to earlier ships.[7]
Gunnery Control
Control Positions
Control Groups
Directors
All six ships were fitted with directors in 1917 and 1918.[8]
The director was on a pedestal mounting without a tower. Likely, there was no directing gun.[9]
The elevation limits of their weapons may have increased in late 1917 or early 1918, resulting in orders for adapting their director systems issued 13 November, 1917. It is not clear whether these alterations were for the entire class or just Caroline herself, or when they were effected.[10]
Transmitting Stations
Dreyer Table
Most of these ships had no fire control tables during the war, but by June 1918, Comus and Carysfort are listed as having Dreyer Turret Control Tables in their T.S.es, and by 1930 all but Caroline were so equipped (Cordelia had been scrapped in 1923).[11]
Fire Control Instruments
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.[12]
See Also
Footnotes
- ↑ Technical History and Index Vol. 4, Part 36, p. 4.
- ↑ Technical History and Index Vol. 4, Part 36, p. 4.
- ↑ Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1906-1921, p. 56.
- ↑ Progress in Naval Gunnery, 1914-1918", p. 10.
- ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1917, p. 199. (possibly pertinent: C.I.O. 481/17)
- ↑ The Technical History and Index: Fire Control in HM Ships, 1919, p. 29.
- ↑ The Technical History and Index: Fire Control in HM Ships, 1919, p. 29.
- ↑ The Technical History and Index: Fire Control in HM Ships, 1919, pp. 11-12.
- ↑ Handbook of Captain F.C. Dreyer's Fire Control Tables, 1918., p. 142 and plate opposite.
I am inferring that the 2 light cruisers shown in the plate are meant to represent those with and without a tower. - ↑ The Technical History and Index: Fire Control in HM Ships, 1919, pp. 14.
- ↑ Handbook of Capt. F.C. Dreyer's Fire Control Tables, p. 3, Pamphlet on the Turret Dreyer Table as fitted in the turrets of H.M. battleships and in the transmitting stations of certain cruisers, 1930, p. 4.
- ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1916, p. 146.
Bibliography
- Template:BibUKDirectorFiringHandbook1917
- 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:BibUKDreyerTableHandbook1918
- Template:BibUKFireControlInHMShips1919
- Template:BibUKProgressInNavalGunnery1914-1918
