Moltke Class Battlecruiser (1910)
Contents
Rangefinders
According to Royal Navy inspectors, the ship had been equipped with the following stereoscopic equipment:[1]
- One in gun control tower of unknown length.
- One 3m RF in four foremost turrets
- Two 1.5m RFs arranged, one per broadside) to support secondary fire. These did not transmit to the T.S.
The field contained "a small diamond in the centre, with four lines of triangular dots radiating from it and a small vertical line like a flagstaff in the left of the field." A pair of working heads permitted coarse and fine adjustments in range, movements of which were tracked by two pointers (one pointer?) around a range dial.[2]
Turrets
The gunnery officer of H.M.S. Superb inspected Goeben after the Armistice and reported that the turrets seemed to have:[3]
- Three trainers (primary one in centre)
- Four gunlayers (one both sides of each gun)
- Eight sightsetters (one for deflection and another for range for each gunlayer)
The implication here is that the trainers had Free Sights or similar. The guns had had their elevation limit increased to 22.5 degrees.[4]
Each turret had a control position in the centre, behind the centre sights, with an officer's hood, a rangefinder with periscopic ends of about 3 metres in length was fitted below the turret roof, equipped with a range transmitter, and receivers for range, order, bearing and deflection. Voicepipes led to the gunlayers, sightsetters and trainers.[5]
There was no means of cleaning the sighting telescopes fitted.[6]
Turret Rangefinder
The rangefinder was trained by a shoulder piece, affording about 5 degrees movement though it is not clear whether this was to each side or total movement. It had no markings for training angle. The left periscope was in the small armoured control tower and the right one remotely housed in its own small tower and stiffed by an iron cross-stay above the turret roof. There was no means of cleaning the optics fitted. All turrets but the aft-most (on Goeben) had a rangefinder.[7]
Secondary Battery
Each broadside had a single 1.5m rangefinder. it did not transmit its ranges to the T.S.[8]
External Links
Footnotes
- ↑ ADM 186/240, pp. 8-9.
- ↑ ADM 186/240, p. 8.
- ↑ ADM 186/240, p. 2.
- ↑ ADM 186/240, p. 2.
- ↑ ADM 186/240, p. 8.
- ↑ ADM 186/240, p. 8.
- ↑ ADM 186/240, p. 8.
- ↑ ADM 186/240, p. 8.
Bibliography
