Admiralty Fire Control Table

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The Admiralty Fire Control Table in the radio room of HMS Belfast

The Admiralty Fire Control Table (AFCT) was an electromechanical , analog computing forming arms control system that the exact target orientation and deviation of the main guns of the Royal Navy - cruiser or - battleship calculated so that the missiles could hit a superficial goal. In the early 1920s, the HMS Nelson and HMS Rodney were first equipped with the AFCT MK 1 , while in the 1930s the warships HMS Warspite , HMS Valiant and HMS Queen Elizabeth and the armored cruiser HMS Renown were equipped with the Mk VII tables . Warships of the King George V class were the Mk IX table equipped, while the HMS Vanguard , the fully developed version, the Mk X received. The AFCT was the successor to the Dreyer tables , which were developed by Captain (later Admiral) Frederic Charles Dreyer. The Argo Clock was designed by Arthur Pollen, but its technical development was driven by both men.

The Admiralty Fire Control Clock (AFCC) was a simplified version of the AFCT and was used for local control of on-board weapons and control of the secondary guns of warships, cruisers and the main guns of destroyers and smaller warships. Some smaller cruisers also used the AFCC for main gun control. The main difference between the AFCT and the AFCC was the integration of a chart plotter in the AFCT, which could determine the exact point of impact at the target before the projectiles of the own moving ship were fired.

The AFCT and AFCC were designed and used accordingly as weapon control systems for targets on the surface. The High Angle Control System and the Fuze Keeping Clock , however, were used to control anti-aircraft guns against enemy aircraft.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Naval Weapons of WW2, Campbell, p12
  2. ^ A b Naval Weapons of WW2, Campbell
  3. ^ The Naval Review, Early Development of Naval Fire Control , Dreyer, July 1986, page 241.
  4. ^ A b Naval Weapons of WW2, Campbell, p15

literature

  • Brooks, John: The Admiralty Fire Control Tables . In: Preston, Antony (ed.): Warship 2002-2003 . Conway Maritime Press, London 2003, ISBN 9780851779263 , pp. 69-93.

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