Gun Deflection

Gun Deflection (or Scale in American parlance) is the angular difference between a gun's orientation in bearing and the line of sight to the target. It was sometimes referred to simply as Deflection, although that can be an ambiguous term used to refer to Gun Deflection or Dumaresq Deflection. Gun deflection's was intended to place the shell on target after factors that cause lateral deviation of shell or target during time-of-flight.

Naval gun sights were designed to permit the sighting telescopes to be angled in pitch and yaw so that proper elevation and deflection could be established to hit the target while it was centred in the telescopic sights. These angles were usually established by sightsetting equipment.

See Also

• Dumaresq Deflection