Queen Elizabeth Class Battleship (1913)

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Armament

Guns

Torpedoes

4 Service Bar 21-in submerged broadside tubes depressed 2 degrees. Forward bearing 80 degrees, aft 100.[1]

Fire Control

Phones

Navyphones directly wired:

  • a 3330 in the TS to a 3331 in the TCT
  • a 3330 in the TS to a 3331 in the CT
  • a 3331 in the GCT to a 3331 in the TCT
  • 3331 at each tube to a 3331 with 2465 at the TCT
  • 3331 at each tube to a 3331 with 2465 at the CT
  • a 3331 in the TCT to a 3331 in the CT
  • a 3331 in the lower space of 'X' turret to a 3330 in the TS (this had a 6-cell battery for power)
  • a 3333 in the bow spotting position to a 3330 in the TS

Each turret had a single, redundant circuit to a 3334 within the TS, connecting each to a 3333 with telaupads and a 3334 within the turret. 'X', due to its directing gun had an additional 3333 on this circuit.[2]

The armoured director tower and the light aloft director tower each had a 3331 with telaupads wired to the TS's exchange board. The TS exchange was also wired to a pair of 3331's in the spotting top and another in the GCT.

The TS's exchange board had 4 3330s for operators. Presumably, these could be plugged to call any of the phones not hard-wired as above.

Rangefinders

Evershed Bearing Indicators

All 5 units were likely fitted with this equipment before late 1914.[Inference][3]

Details likely resembled those for the King George V class.

Mechanical Aid-to-Spotter

At some point, all ships in this class were equipped with four Mark II Mechanical Aid-to-Spotters:

  • one on each side of the foretop, driven by flexible shafting from the Evershed rack on the director
  • one on each side of the Gun Control Tower employing an electrical F.T.P. system.

As the need for such gear was apparently first identified in early 1916, it seems likely that these installations were effected well after Jutland.[4]

Gunnery Control

The control arrangements were almost certainly developed along lines similar to the King George V class, outlined here as follows.[Inference]

Control Positions

The 15-in guns had 3 control positions:[Citation needed]

  • Gunnery control tower
  • 'B' turret
  • 'X' turret

The 6-in guns had 4 control positions:[5]

  1. 6-in Gun Control Tower (P & S)
  2. Transmitting Station
  3. Alternative Position (A) in spotting top
  4. Alternative Position (B), A.K.A. "Deck Alternative Position"

Control Groups

The four 15-in turrets were each a separate group with a local C.O.S. so that it could be connected to

  • Transmitting Station
  • Local control from officer's position within turret

In 1915, the 6-in guns on Queen Elizabeth were divided into 3 groups on each broadside:

  1. 3 guns
  2. 3 guns
  3. 2 guns

but this was soon to change along with a pattern already established in Warspite: removal of number 3 group, returning 2 guns and moving the others to the foredeck, presumably with some or total loss in fire control cohesion for that weapon.[6]

Directors

Main Battery

These ships were fitted with 2 cam-type tripod-mounted directors, one in an armoured tower and one in a light aloft tower,[7] as well as a directing gun (in 'X' turret?).[8]

The main battery was divisible into two groups, fore ('A' & 'B') and aft ('X' & 'Y').[9] A C.O.S. in the TS offered the following options:[10]

  • All guns on aloft director
  • All guns on armoured director
  • All guns on directing gun
  • Forward group on aloft director, aft group on armoured director
  • Forward group on armoured director, aft group on directing gun

Each gun had a local C.O.S. with 3 positions:

  • Gunlayer's firing (local trigger circuits connected)
  • Director 1 (director main to local main, director aux to local aux)
  • Director 2 (director main to local aux, director aux to local main)

Secondary Battery

Diagram of 6-in Director Firing Circuits
As shown in Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1915.

All units except Queen Elizabeth had a pair of pedestal-mounted directors for their secondary batteries. Queen Elizabeth's 6-in guns were supported by a pair of tripod-mounted directors.[11]

The secondary directors were situated port and starboard high on her forward superstructure.[12] The broadside-mounted secondary guns were in port and starboard groups, and either were laid and fired locally or under the control of the director on their side. The system in the follow-on Revenge class was so similar that the Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1915 saw fit to document the two together.[13]

Torpedo Control

Torpedo Control[14]
Torpedo Control Tower[15]

The arrangements for torpedo control are documented in the Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1914. They note right off that these ships differ from the Iron Duke by the fact that the TS contains no torpedo control equipment.[16]

The ships had two control positions: the conning tower and the torpedo control tower. Each had 4 sets of equipment for commanding the four torpedo tubes. Each such set contained:

  • Mark I Torpedo Order instrument
  • Mark II Angled gyro instrument
  • A firing pistol
  • A firing gong

The torpedo control tower exercised authority over the conning tower, however, in that it was equipped with a pair of Mark III single-range transmitters and a pair of Mark I course and speed transmitters while the conning tower had the receivers. Presumably, this was because the TCT had a 9-foot rangefinder for the express purpose of torpedo control. The control positions also each had a device called an "order instrument" wired directly to that in the other control position.

Each tube had a 2-way C.O.S. to select which control position's corresponding firing key would be connected to electromagnetically drop its firing ball. The order and gyro angle instruments, however, did not pass through a C.O.S. at all; the indications from both control positions were continually indicated by a duplicate set of instruments at each tube.

Navyphones for Torpedo and Fire Control
As shown in Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1914.

It is not clear to me why each torpedo tube has 4 fire gongs near it, or why the torpedo control positions have fire gongs. Also, the "speed indicator" in the plan of the TCT is not explained. It is possible that it may have been a means of seeing whether the torpedoes were set for low or high speed, or

Transmitting Stations

Following evolutionary lines of development which were firming up in the King George V class, these ships probably had a TS for the main battery (with a Dreyer Table), and one for the 6-in guns (likely without a Dreyer table, or just a Turret Control Table).[Inference]

Dreyer Table

Each ships had a Mark IV* Dreyer Table, although it is possible that Queen Elizabeth was originally given a Mark IV Dreyer Table which was later upgraded to the Mark IV* standard.[17]

Each ship also had 4[Inference] Dreyer Turret Control Tables.[18]

Fire Control Instruments

Fire Control Systems
As shown in Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1914.

Continuing the pattern established in the Colossus class, all 5 units used Mark III Vickers F.T.P. receivers on the gun sights, connected to a variety of transmitter Marks III for local control and Mark III* in the TS.[19][20]

These ships were the first to employ the new Barr and Stroud Mark I fall-of-shot instruments. Queen Elizabeth was given transmitters in the bow spotting position (soon abolished and resited in 'A' turret) and in 'X' turret. These worked receivers in the TS, spotting top and the 15-in GCT.[21]

Barr and Stroud Fire Control Instruments of a variety of Marks (III and IV, primarily) were used for other purposes.[22]

The 6-in broadside batteries each had separate cease-fire gong circuits, each with a push in the conning tower. The gongs for the two sides were made to sound quite different in tone, and each gun had a gong, as did both 6-in control towers. The 6-in TS had 1 gong of each type.[23]

The ships also had Gun Ready signals in the TS and control positions, but had no Target Visible signals.[24]

See Also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1915, p. 36.
  2. ↑ I am interpreting "D.F." in Plate 46 to mean "director firing"
  3. ↑ not listed in pertinent section in Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914
  4. ↑ The Technical History and Index: Fire Control in HM Ships, 1919, pp. 25-6.
  5. ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1915, p. 227.
  6. ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1915, pp. 226-7.
  7. ↑ The Director Firing Handbook, 1917. p. 142
  8. ↑ The Director Firing Handbook, 1917. p. 88
  9. ↑ The Director Firing Handbook, 1917. p. 88
  10. ↑ The Director Firing Handbook, 1917. p. 88
  11. ↑ The Director Firing Handbook, 1917. p. 143.
  12. ↑ The Director Firing Handbook, 1917. p. 91.
  13. ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1915, p. 232.
  14. ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1914, Plate 45.
  15. ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1914, p. 73.
  16. ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1914, p. 73 & Plates 45-6.
  17. ↑ Handbook of Capt. F.C. Dreyer's Fire Control Tables, p. 3.
  18. ↑ Handbook of Capt. F.C. Dreyer's Fire Control Tables, p. 3.
  19. ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1914, Plate 47.
  20. ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1915, pp. 226-7.
  21. ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1915, p. 250.
  22. ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1914, p. 74 & Plate 47.
  23. ↑ Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1915, p. 227.
  24. ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914, p. 11.

Bibliography

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Template:Queen Elizabeth Class (1913)

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