Hi PeterZ,
First, I'm curious about the detailed textev for the gyroscope reference, because its a long way after the gyroscope that the gyrocompass was invented that began the development of real naval fire control systems which took decades
secondly, it was almost 20 years after we started building ships of this tonnage that improving long range fire control became a concern, so going from 25 yards or "ha' pistol shot" out to around ~4000 yards ought to be more than adequate in demonstrating the KH VII's overwhelming superiority at the moment.
The gyrocompass was only invented in 1904, and was seen as a great improvement in the ship knowing where and what it was doing, a considerable improvement on the preceding guesswork, but it was decades further before any kind of central control connection between such sensors and the gun turrets.
The Battle of Tushima in 1905 became an overwhelming IJN victory when the range dropped to ~7000 yards, where the IJN gunnery excelled; there are Russian reports of seeing the 4' long 11" IJN shells tumbling in the air before landing during the initial distant exchanges with the Russian Navy scoring some 15 hits on the Mikasa in the first 5 minutes which was very good shooting indeed, while the IJN is credited with around 20% hits overall, compared to the USN's 2% in the Spanish-American War at generally rather shorter ranges seven years earlier.
Given the advantages of the all big gun 'dreadnoughts' quickly following the battle, the importance of longer ranged accurate fire began striking home in the minds of any intelligent naval officer, with the major powers developing variations on long range centrally controlled gunfire.
Besides the critical role of electricity in such fire control solutions, already cited by others, my primary concern for the balloon units aboard, is the much more critical one of communication.
Transmitting what they below the balloon know down to the ship, even if its only a hundred or two hundred yards, without the electric telegraph, as used in the ACW creates all sorts of problems; voice tubes or string connected tin cans have definite range limits.
Being able to hear such reports clearly down on the deck amid the ambient noise etc let alone the guns firing is very problematic, and the sound powered phones aboard US ships in WW2 required electric transducers at both ends, not something generally available on Safehold at the moment.
Telegraph flags seem to be the only two-way answer at the moment [message canisters are only one way and very limited in number] but such flag movements could only attract unwanted attention, certainly not what the ICN wants.
What Nahrmahn [ie RFC] has come up with that is less observable [stealthier?] will be fascinating to discover.
Besides binoculars and telescopes, rain gear;, maps, paper, pencils and pens, etc plus signal flags [and other communications systems], water bottles and food, what other equipment should they have in the balloon cages?
L
PeterZ wrote:Thanks for clarifying. I was focusing on connecting a gyro to the gun.
I still believe having a gyro is necessary to fully utilize the range those 8" & 10" riles can achieve. Have a adjustable timer connected both the gun and the gyro would be even better. The idea is to make as many of the variables measurable and repeatable rather than rely on pure intuition. Being able to set the time to appropriately trigger the gun prior to being level will make it possible to take advantage of the range. A balloon will really add to the gub's accuracy.
I wouldn't be surprised if a mechanical fire control computer does eventually get developed.
Louis R wrote:Essentially, you did it when you started talking about fire control. There's a _lot_ more involved than 'fire when the gun is level'. In fact, you probably don't even want to fire when it's level, and even if that is optimal, you certainly don't want to pull the trigger then - you need to do it sooner, so the gun will be level when it goes off. And as was said upthread, how much sooner depends on several factors, including how fast the ship is rolling.
*quote="PeterZ"*Larry,
I am just suggesting a pneumatic gyroscope and a mechanism to fire when the gun is level as indicated by the gyro. When did I argue for a fire control computer?
*quote**quote*
