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Consolidated System of Fire Control Main Battery
Consolidated System of Fire Control Main Battery
CHAPTER 11.
CONSOLIDATED SYSTEM OF FIRE CONTROL MAIN BATTERY.
Light Cruisers No. 26 Northampton, 13 June 1930
" 27 Chester, do
" 28 Louisville, 13 March 1931
" 29 Chicago, do
" 30 Houston, 13 June 1930
" 31 Augusta, 13 March 1931
(b) Secondary Control. One of the aloft directors is operated like a broadside director, range and deflection being set
on the director,
using either data from the plotting room range
keeper, or from a Mk. VII range keeper attached to the director.
There is no cross-level
compensation in this method.
(c) Auxiliary Control. Exactly like Secondary Control, except that all electrical connections go through an auxiliary
switchboard aft.
In case it should
become necessary to use this
method, it is unlikely that the plotting room range keeper would
be/available, and the
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6. The point of
reference in train is the center of rotation of the gun director in the after main battery control station.
7. The plane of
reference for vertical parallax is the horizontal plane through the mean trunnion height of the 8" enclosed mounts.
8. The forward
director is provided with a parallax mechanism for both vertical and horizontal parallax.
A ballistic computer.
A graphic plotter.
A cross-level corrector.
A gyroscopic unit.
A gun director (for indirect fire), and
A rate control mechanism.
Transmitters and Receivers.
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It receives automatically:
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13. The range keeper generates range and bearing and solves
the fire control problem. It computes D.C. and transmits to
the controlling
director the director correction which will
place the director pointer's line of sight at the correct angle
of elevation with respect to the guns for
the existing advance
range and cross roll error. It modifies the observed relative,
target bearing from the controlling director by adding
deflection and cross roll correction in train, transmitting the resultant gun train order to the guns.
16. The graphic plotter automatically draws curves of present range, advance range, true target bearing, and true gun train.
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indirect
fire at times when the gyro compasses would not be reliable. However, provision is made for using
the gyro compass as a standard
in case of trouble with the angle gyro. As an additional feature the angle
gyro, in conjunction with a bearing integrator, functions as a gyro
compass,
and may be compared with the ship's gyro compass by means of a dial.
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19. The
range keeper as a gun director. When the target is
obscured, or casualties occur, control may foe shifted to the
rangekeeper, and
indirect fire used. The-rangekeeper will transmit to the guns the generated relative target bearing (controlled by the "angle" gyro), plus
deflection and cross-roll correction. The director pointer
operates a crank which sets the gun
elevation order into the rangekeeper and
transmits it also to
the guns. The range keeper computes the director correction
just as it does when the top director is in control, but in this
case the director correction is visually compared with level
angle from the level gyro, by means of a "firing point dial",
which enables the
pointer to change the gun elevation order until the level angle and the director correction will be equal at some
part of the roll. The battery
may
be fired when these two angles are equal by an automatic firing device,
(provided a hand firing key is closed), or independently by the
director
pointer when the firing point is reached, as shown by the dial. In either case the level gyro is used as the standard.
20. The rate control mechanism provides a means for automatically correcting the target's course and speed so that the
components of the
target's motion along and across the fire as
resolved by the rangekeeper from the course and speed as set
will agree with the observed motion
along and across the line
of fire. If the generated bearing strays off from the observed,
it is only necessary to wait until it has moved off for a
period of one minutes, then to push in and turn a crank until the
generated bearing again equals the observed, which is indicated
by pointers.
The rate control mechanism will simultaneously
change the target's course and speed settings in such a way as
to correct the bearing rate
without changing the range rate.
Similarly, the range rate may be corrected by the rate control
mechanism, which will change the target's
course and speed set
tings so as to correct the range rate without varying the bearing rate.
21. The director trainer keeps his sight on the target by training the director and
incidentally transmits the target bearing to the range keeper
as basis for the
gun train order that finally issues therefrom. In the range keeper the corrections for cross leveling and deflection are applied.
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22. The angle of train of the gun mounts, corrected far horizontal parallax, is transmitted mechanically to the gun train
indicators and
combined in an appropriate manner with the angle
of train transmitted from the range keeper, so that when the
zero reader dials in the gun
train indicators read zero, the
gun mount is trained to the desired angle of train; The angle
of train of the gun mounts, corrected for horizontal
parallax
to the point of reference, is transmitted electrically to appropriate dials in the mount train indicators.
25. For emergency use means are provided whereby the moving
prism or mirror in the pointer's sight, can be coupled through
suitable
gearing with his handwheel and the Selsyn generators
that transmit gun elevation. In this connecting gearing will
be provided a range
adjustment governed by a range drum whereby
a sight setter can set sight depression on the director. It
will thus be possible to use the
director in the same manner as
the "Tickers' Director is used if for any reason the range keeper is unable to exercise control over the pointer's
sight. Under the latter condition ranges will be taken from the Battle
order indicator or from the local rangekeeper arid set on the directors.
26. Gun elevation order indicators (1 speed) at the directors enable the director operator to match in elevation with the
controlling director, to
facilitate shifts in control.
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27. The angle of elevation of the guns, corrected for inclination of the roller path and loss in muzzle velocity due
to erosion will be
mechanically transmitted to the gun elevation indicators.
Instruments.
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