Search found 13 matches

by tone
Sat May 13, 2017 2:14 am
Forum: The Dreadnought Era (1906-1921)
Topic: SMS Baden Fire Control
Replies: 15
Views: 21048

Re: SMS Baden Fire Control

The Henderson gear was not the same as gyro stablizing the guns in pitch, but as Tommy outlines, it merely tried to negate the pitch of the director telescope. It did not perfectly negate it, but it reduced the motion to a slow "wander" that was easier to track. The director layer's trigge...
by tone
Wed Mar 25, 2015 4:58 pm
Forum: Naval Technology
Topic: Barr & Stroud FT 37 Rangefinder Help
Replies: 4
Views: 10422

Re: Barr & Stroud FT 37 Rangefinder Help

I own three of these, one of which is in fine working order. Have you been successful in guessing your way through? If not, I have a handbook, but unless it requires some unusual adjustment, you have only a few simple things to do. Working from memory... First off... are the optics clear, and does w...
by tone
Wed Dec 17, 2014 2:30 am
Forum: The Dreadnought Era (1906-1921)
Topic: SMS Nassau
Replies: 18
Views: 24730

Re: SMS Nassau

I think the British had the same goals as the Germans, which reduce to Fisher's (paraphrased) "hit early, hit often". But the British seem to have missed a few simple wrinkles, especially in the algorithm for early ranging/line-finding fire -- possibly addressed in the formulated Spotting ...
by tone
Tue Jul 01, 2014 4:00 am
Forum: The Dreadnought Era (1906-1921)
Topic: SMS Nassau
Replies: 18
Views: 24730

Re: SMS Nassau

Why does it seem to be such an article of faith that the RN had better fire control then the IGN in WW1? The record in no way supports such a position. I think it is pretty clear that the British had a greater "frontal lobe" for fire control whereas the Germans, at the pivotal test in 191...
by tone
Tue Jul 01, 2014 2:01 am
Forum: The Dreadnought Era (1906-1921)
Topic: Invincible's torpedoes
Replies: 6
Views: 10756

Re: Invincible's torpedoes

i did some digging and I suspect the photo on this page http://www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk/torpedo_boats.htm (second down on the left) is what I'm looking for. I'm quite surprised by the idea of battleships carrying one of these all that time ago - a bit like modern ships carrying a helicopter f...
by tone
Tue Jul 09, 2013 11:20 pm
Forum: The Dreadnought Era (1906-1921)
Topic: German use of reduced charges at Jutland?
Replies: 14
Views: 18667

Re: German use of reduced charges at Jutland?

Pardon the very late response, but I like fire control threads. Changing to reduced charges (or back) would have required the gunsights to be altered in the heat of battle. How the Germans might do this, I am not sure, but for the Brits, it would be that all the gunlayers (since the Germans used ind...
by tone
Sat Feb 09, 2013 12:35 am
Forum: The Dreadnought Era (1906-1921)
Topic: HMS Hercules
Replies: 28
Views: 24886

Re: HMS Hercules

I find the reports on director firing informative, and worth recording on my wiki for sure (provided I remember to do so).

While Fawcett and Hooper is chatty, the detail provided is fairly convincing. What role did the speaker have on board?

Does Yate's provide a source for his account?

tone
by tone
Wed Jan 16, 2013 7:09 pm
Forum: The Dreadnought Era (1906-1921)
Topic: question about HMS Queen Elizabeth
Replies: 4
Views: 11402

Re: question about HMS Queen Elizabeth

Thanks, Lynn.. I was going to post the same (I only recently edited the page you cite). I wanted to point out that QE was flagship for somewhere between 1-2 months (the Supplements upon which my page is based only really show status quo at the top of the month, which creates a +/- 2 week fuzz in the...
by tone
Sat Sep 15, 2012 10:23 pm
Forum: Naval Technology
Topic: British v German rangefinders
Replies: 82
Views: 69162

Re: British v German rangefinders

I'll say from practical experience with a Barr and Stroud F.T. 37 that coincidence rangefinding (at least) would be extremely susceptible to motion of own ship and to vibration. The simplest illustration in this is that a target is generally going to be on the beam, and your ship's roll is going to ...
by tone
Sat May 12, 2007 1:04 am
Forum: Naval History (1922-1945)
Topic: Great photo albums
Replies: 4
Views: 2955

FYI .. I have 4 albums there now.

tone
by tone
Sat May 12, 2007 1:01 am
Forum: The Dreadnought Era (1906-1921)
Topic: Jutland recurrent themes
Replies: 51
Views: 44280

Sorry to pipe in so late. If I had my druthers... 1. Give me the German BCs for their armor and overall design strengths 2. Give me the RN's directors and fire control system, except... 3. Give me a MIXTURE of RN and German rangefinders 4. Give me the German's vantage point with its superior visibil...
by tone
Sat May 12, 2007 12:34 am
Forum: Naval History (1922-1945)
Topic: What ship would you have visited?
Replies: 20
Views: 8695

Gary wrote:Hi Iankw.

Sorry to disagree but I'd find HMS Lion much more historically intriguing than Iron Duke.
Queen Mary for me.

tone
by tone
Sat May 12, 2007 12:32 am
Forum: Naval History (1922-1945)
Topic: Ships shooting themselves
Replies: 21
Views: 6853

Generally, any main or secondary battery weapon would have a fairly complete interlock system to prevent it firing into any fixed portion of its own ship, and often against firing into any nearby articulating guns. Even in a WW1 RN dreadnought, these systems were fairly sophisticated, based on minia...