(OT) re naval gunsight. The inventors name was Aurther Pollen and his invention was called the "Argo clock".
Both the Russian and German Navies bought the invention.
The battle I referred to was Jutland where three British capital ships were sunk in the opening manouvers. Nowhere is it mention the Germans were shooting with Pollens "Argo clock".
barnettresearch.freeserve.co.uk
As an admiral putting through far-reaching reforms, this lack of understanding however, became far more important. A prime example of this was in relation to the all big-gun ships. While CinC Med, gunnery exercises conducted at 5,000 to 6,000 yards were not unsuccessful when fired as salvoes and the results observed; the process of controlling this centrally became known as ‘fire-control’. (35) But this was not the full story by any means. As distance increases the problems of one moving ship hitting another moving ship with artillery fire become very much greater. Both ships are liable to be subject to pitch, roll and yaw. The relevant bearings and ranges will in most occasions be changing and not necessarily in an uniform manner. Plus, with increased distance the projectiles spend a longer time getting to the target and as a result, have to be vectored onto where the target will be judged to be on the point of impact (and not on the point of firing). The full extent of these variables were not generally realised by naval officers, even after an interested civilian, Arthur Pollen, repeatedly attempted to persuade the R.N. to develop a series of devices for working out the solutions mechanically. In spite of promising trials, Pollen’s system was only partly taken up and only after bitter recriminations. Fisher’s input in this was cursory - brief support waned, when a cheaper but fundamentally-flawed system by naval officers was underhandedly also offered. (36) Pollen’s system if adopted (and crews well trained in it’s use) could have given the Royal Navy an immense superiority over the Imperial German Navy: in the short term at least. (37)
Shooting at a distant moving target requires the solution of a second order differential equation. Pollens invention did this and also used a gyro to monitor the firing vessels movement. It was a brillient invention that the British Admiralty ignored during WW1. This problem was fixed before WW2 so I wonder why it's not published.
spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk
The two fleets opened fire at a range of 15 kilometres. The hazy visibility created problems for both sides but the position of the sun gave a significant advantage to the German captains. After receiving five hits from the German battlecruiser, Von Der Tann, the British battlecruiser, Indefatigable, sunk at 16.03 after a magazine explosion. More than 1,000 sailors on the Indefatigable were killed as a result of the blast. At 16.25 Queen Mary also exploded and went down in only 90 seconds. Two destroyers on both sides were also sunk during this period.
Jellicoe's battlecruiser squadrons headed quickly towards Beatty's fleet but she before they arrived, Invincible became the third of Britain's battleships to explode after a German shell penetrated a turret at 18.33. |
