Chadburn's Torpedo Telegraph

Side view of transmitter with covers removed.

Chadburn's Torpedo Telegraph was a mechanical British system for reliably communicating torpedo orders, nearly identical in design and function to the mechanical engine room telegraphs the Chadburn company was known for. It was used as an alternative to Barr and Stroud torpedo control instruments as well as the Wise Pressure Telegraphy System.

Nature and Function

Rotating shafts had long been used to convey engine room orders, as they proved reliable and did not suffer when traversing the high temperatures of a boiler room. On special wrinkle that this application created for trainable torpedo tubes was the need to rotate with the torpedo mount. The clever mechanism which required a telescoping shaft is depicted to the right.

Allocation

After Jutland, the Royal Navy decided on standard schemes for torpedo control for its various vessels. Light cruisers and destroyers were good candidate to receive simple, robust solutions for communicating torpedo orders. Diversifying away from Barr and Stroud's electro-mechanical systems may well have also helped shift work away from that much-burdened vendor.^[Inference]

In 1916, it was decided to give light cruisers with submerged tubes systems for communicating gyro angles and torpedo orders with a similar means of indicating replies. While others received Barr and Stroud equipment, the Birkenhead, Chester and Calliope classes were selected to receive Chadburn systems with mechanical replies between fore bridge and the torpedo flats. Those vessels with an after control position would have a second, separate outfit from that to the torpedo flat, doubling the hardware in the flat. Firing was to be by command or by electrical firing keys on the fore bridge.

At the same time, light cruisers of the Arethusa class with above-water tubes and destroyers of "K" class and later needed similar control arrangements. Of these, those ships with the early "Type A" Wise pressure telegraphs (Inconstant, Nepean, Nereus and Partridge) would have those modified to transmit only deflection and receive Chadburn systems for orders only (see below).

Torpedo Order Telegraph

As the Royal Navy tried to rapidly consolidate its post-Jutland ideas of torpedo control on light cruisers and destroyers, it proved convenient to have Chadburn devices provide the torpedo orders (only) for 16 ships which would retain their "Type B" Wise Pressure System for deflection (only). Chadburn delivered a variation on their standard engine room telegraph for this purpose.