Colossus Class Battleship (1910)
Armament
Guns
Torpedoes
Three 21-in submerged tubes:[1]
- two broadside tubes forward 12 feet, 7.4375 inches below load waterline, depressed 2 degrees with axis of tube 1 foot 7.5625 inches above the deck.
- one stern tube 8.5 feet below load WL, depressed 1 degree with axis of tube 1 foot 8.625 inches above the deck.
The torpedoes for the stern tubes were probably removed sometime during or after 1916 to increase numbers available for broadside use in the fleet..[2]
Fire Control
Rangefinders
Sometime during or after 1917, an 9-foot rangefinder on an open mounting was to be added specifically to augment torpedo control. It seems likely that Hercules received hers before Colossus.[3][4]
Evershed Bearing Indicators
The two units were fitted with this equipment before late 1914, albeit in a slightly different manner.[5]
Colossus's transmitting positions were
- Conning Tower
- Fore control platform (transmitters to port and starboard with C.O.S. to select one in use)
- 'A' turret
- 'X' turret
Hercules's transmitting positions were
- Conning Tower
- Fore bridge (transmitters to port and starboard with C.O.S. to select one in use)
- 'A' turret
- 'X' turret
The protocols for handling wooding of the turrets is outlined in the Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914.[6]
Mechanical Aid-to-Spotter
At some point, both ships were equipped with two Mark I Mechanical Aid-to-Spotters, one on each side of the foretop, keyed off the Evershed rack on the director. As the need for such gear was apparently first identified in early 1916, it seems likely that these installations were effected well after Jutland.[7]
Gunnery Control
The control arrangements were as follows.[8]
Control Positions
- Fore top
- Gunnery control tower
- 'A' turret
- 'X' turret
Some ships had C.O.S.s within the control positions so they could be connected to either TS.[9]
Control Groups
The five 12-in turrets were each a separate group 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 cam-type tripod-type director in a light aloft tower on the foremast along with a directing gun (in 'Y' turret?).[10] The battery was not divisible into groups for split director firing.[11]
Secondary Battery
The 4-in guns never had directors installed.[12]
Torpedo Control
By mid 1917 and likely a considerable time before,[Inference] all ships in the class were provided a Torpedo Control Plotting Instrument Mark I in the TCT.[13]
Transmitting Stations
Like nearly all large British ships of the era prior to King George V and Queen Mary,[14] these ships likely had 2 TSes.
Dreyer Table
Hercules was equipped with the Original Dreyer Table for some period between 1911 and 1913, brought along with Captain Dreyer when he left Prince of Wales.[15]
The ships eventually each received a Mark I Dreyer Table,[16] but were never given Dreyer Turret Control Tables.[17]
Fire Control Instruments
Breaking a pattern of acquisition dating back to the Bellerophon class, this class used Vickers F.T.P. Mark III range and deflection instruments (with cross-connected Mark III* range transmitters[18]) when sending data to gun sights, retaining Barr and Stroud (probably Mark II*[Inference]) instruments for other destinations.[19]
The ships also had Target Visible and Gun Ready signals to indicate which turrets could see the target and which guns were ready mounted in the TSes and control positions.[20]
See Also
Footnotes
- ↑ Addenda (1911) to Torpedo Manual, Vol. III., 1909, p. 155.
- ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1916, p. 36. (T.O. 168/1916)
- ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1917, p. 198. (C.I.O. 481/17) mentions Hercules
- ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1918, p. 176. mentions Colossus
- ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914, p. 36.
- ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914, p. 36.
- ↑ The Technical History and Index: Fire Control in HM Ships, 1919, pp. 25-6.
- ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914, p. 7.
- ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914, p. 7.
- ↑ The Director Firing Handbook, 1917. pp. 88, 142.
- ↑ The Director Firing Handbook, 1917. p. 88.
- ↑ absent from list in The Director Firing Handbook, 1917. pp. 143.
- ↑ Handbook of Torpedo Control, 1916, p. 38. Inference based on Mark II gear being in place in other ships in 1915.
- ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914, pp. 6-7.
- ↑ Pollen Aim Corrector System, Part I. Technical History and Technical Comparison with Commander F. C. Dreyer's Fire Control System, p. 12.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1910, p. 148.
- ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914, pp. 72.
- ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914, p. 11.
Bibliography
- 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:BibUKDirectorFiringHandbook1917
- Template:BibUKDreyerTableHandbook1918
- Template:BibUKTechnicalHistoryComparisonArgoAndDreyer
