Monmouth Class Cruiser (1901)
The ten armoured cruisers of the Monmouth Class were completed in 1903 and 1904.
Armament
During the war, along with those of other older ships, the six 6-inch guns in lower casemates proved of little use in practical sea states. They were moved to the upper deck in spray shields and their old positions plated up. Six 12-pdr guns so displaced were relocated to the forward casemates and after shelter deck. The alteration greatly improved the sea-keeping qualities of the ships.[1]
Main Battery
Secondary Battery
Other Guns
Torpedoes
Fire Control
Rangefinders
Evershed Bearing Indicators
Gunnery Control
Control Positions
Control Groups
Directors
Main Battery
Secondary Battery
Torpedo Control
Transmitting Stations
Dreyer Table
These ships had no fire control tables.[2]
Fire Control Instruments
By 1909, the 10 ships in this class were evenly split into two different types of fire control equipment.
Bedford, Essex, Kent, Monmouth and Suffolk were fitted with Barr and Stroud Mark II equipment with a few gongs and bells from other sources:[3]
- Combined Range, Order, Deflection: 6 transmitters, 27 receivers
- Group Switches: 3
- Rate: 4 transmitters, 8 receivers
- Bearing: none
- Range: none
Additionally, this class had the following fire control equipment:[4]
- Siemens Fire Gongs (turrets): 4 with 2 keys
- Vickers Fire Gongs (elsewhere): 10 with 4 keys
- Siemens Captain's Cease Fire Bells: 16 with 1 key
Berwick, Cornwall, Cumberland, Donegal and Lancaster were equipped with Vickers, Son and Maxim instruments for range, deflection and orders and with Barr and Stroud rate instruments:[5]
- Vickers range transmitters: 6
- Vickers deflection transmitters: 6
- Vickers combined range and deflection receivers: 21
- Vickers C.O.S.: 3
- Vickers Check fire switches: 6
- Barr and Stroud rate transmitters: 4
- Barr and Stroud rate receivers: 8
- Siemens Fire Gongs (turrets): 4 with 2 keys
- Vickers Fire Gongs (elsewhere): 6 with 2 keys
- Siemens Captain's Cease Fire Bells: 16 with 1 key
None of the ships had Target Visible or Gun Ready signals.[6]
See Also
Footnotes
- ↑ Technical History and Index Vol. 4, Part 36, p. 9-10.
- ↑ absent from list in Handbook of Capt. F.C. Dreyer's Fire Control Tables, p. 3.
- ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1909, pp. 56, 58.
- ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1909, p. 58.
- ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1909, pp. 56, 60.
- ↑ Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1914, p. 11.
Bibliography
- Template:BibUKTHVol4Part34
- Admiralty, Gunnery Branch (1910). Handbook for Fire Control Instruments, 1909. Copy No. 173 is Ja 345a at Admiralty Library, Portsmouth, United Kingdom.
- 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:BibUKDreyerTableHandbook1918
- McBride, Keith (1988). Grant, Ian. ed. "The First County Class Cruisers of the Royal Navy, Part I: The Monmouths". Warship (Volume XII, Issue 46): pp. 19-26.
