ABSTRACT
At the start of this decade of progress in gunnery,2 few ships had more than a shortbase rangefinder and some sight telescopes to use in their long-range firings; by its close, the latest dreadnoughts were being fitted with Dreyer Tables and Directors. However, in 1914, most of the battlefleet still depended on a simpler, manually worked system comprising instruments which, in several cases, had been invented even before 1904. This chapter examines the origins of these devices, how they were developed by the Royal Navy and its suppliers, and how they were used in this, the first British system of long range fire control. Under the Controller, the Director of Naval Ordnance and Torpedoes (the DNO) ‘is generally responsible to the Board of Admiralty in regard to …the armament of the Fleet [and] all matters connected with the Ordnance and Torpedo material of the Navy’. His deputy, the Assistant Director of Torpedoes, had his own staff to deal with torpedo matters; the DNO also had a large staff concerned with the inspection of guns and mountings, and he was aided by an Assistant DNO. However, only a few officers within the Naval Ordnance Department (NOD)— they appear in the Navy List as ‘Assistants to the DNO’—were assigned to the development of new material; for example, under Captain H.D.Barry, DNO from October 1903 to February 1905, Commander Lynes had sole responsibility for experimental work on non-transferable mountings, sighting gear, rangefinders, firing gear and communications. The DNO and his assistants could, however, call on the resources of the gunnery and torpedo schools at Portsmouth, Excellent and Vernon. Vernon and the torpedo branch provided special expertise in all electrical matters. Gun trials were conducted by Excellent.3 Her Captain was also regarded as ‘the principal Admiralty Experimental Officer’, a role in which he was assisted by his Experimental Commander. One of their duties was to examine and report on the ‘innumerable inventions’ submitted to the Admiralty.4
