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Letters
Amphion class Gunnery: How was direct fire at very short range conducted? Good morning Mac, Found your website for the first time this morning. Very interesting. And I think that it is a historical treasure. I got onto it because I was searching the net for details of the Amphion Class and in particular Sydney. But I wish to steer right away from the battle and loss of the ship. I am interested in the technical specs of the ship and in particular the weapon systems and most of all the gunnery system. Ie. how was direct fire at very short range conducted. And then how were turrets operated in local control if say director was taken out or electrical power lost to TS and or comms lost with bridge/TS or both? Was 6 inch ammunition separate or fixed. Which was the master turret in Amphions? I am very interested in all of this if you could point me to any sources of data. And how was the f/c for the secondary armament managed? Ships organistion would be interesting also so that I could get a feel for degrees of readiness at cruising versus action stations. (I am a retired birdie). I cut my teeth as a midshipman in the turret and director of 4.5 FPS 5 type 12 and MRS 3 Leanders. But they are probably beneath your radar so to speak. I just missed going to sea on Royalist which was 5.25 inch Dido. (This might betray my origin). Sorry to bore you with all of this. But I would be grateful for and detailed sources you could provide. Regards
Firstly thank you for your very kind words about AHOY. Normally the main armament would be controlled by the Director Control Tower, which in turn is linked to the Bridge Enemy Bearing Indicators, where the Gunnery Officer would seek out the target, and the Director and turrets follow accordingly. The Director would fire a salvo from all 4 turrets. The main armament Transmitting station, well below decks would compute range and bearing to the Director, the range dictating the guns elevation. At short or close range the Director is still the master control. I am unaware of any turret being the master one, the Director fulfils that function. In Sydney's battle with Kormoran, both the Bridge EBI's, Bridge personnel and the main Director were quickly knocked out, A and B turrets were also soon put out of action, leaving X and Y turrets to both go into local control. The Officer in charge of those gunhouses would go into local control, firing his two guns independenly and from reports available, it seems that X turret did the damage to Kormoran that put her out of the action, forcing her to abandon ship.
The shells were either Semi Armour Piercing for ship to ship actions, designed to first penetrate the enemy ship hull, and then explode, or High Explosive, for ship to shore bombardment, or used for Anti Aircraft fire. In the case of the secondary armament, the 4 inch guns used fixed ammunition which includes the propellant within the brass shell case. They were dual usage, both as AA weapons and for ship to ship action, also controlled by a High Angle Control Director, and supplied with critical data from the High Angle Control Position ( TS ) situated below decks. In WW2 our warship's personnel were generally divided into two watches Port and Starboard, at cruising stations, one watch would be manning half the armament, and the other watch going about its duties in each part of ship ( by Day ). By night one watch on deck, one watch sleeping, every four hours the watch changes, ( except for the two dog watches 1600/1800, and 1800/2000, to avoid having the same watch daily ) then reversing their roles. Of course at action stations every one is closed up ready to fight the ship, we always went to action stations at both dawn and at dusk. Cris, I do hope this helps you, if I have not covered it all to your satisfaction, please come back to me again. Regards,
Thank you for the quick response and the information you have provided. I am hoping that you will indulge me by answering several more questions. Where did the Capt of the Gun-house sit and could he lay and train his guns from one central position? The photos of the wreck indicate that the guns were not fixed mantle (if I remember the correct term). If my experience is anything to go by (which it probably isn’t) local control, even at very short range did not produce very good results and the 4.5” gun-house had a nice window on the top. I recall that it was a bonus if you could even see the target. The vision of Sydney’s x turret show the hatches on the front of the turret open. Was this necessary to “aim” the guns in local? I recall one ex Sydney ship’s company member telling me that on the way across the bight Sydney’s A turret had been dislodged from its tracks but that it had been repaired in Fremantle before the ship sailed for the final time - after he left the ship. That is why I asked about the master turret. I have this vague memory from studying cruiser gunnery systems long ago that the testing and tuning of the system was done initially to one turret and then the other turrets were synched with the master rather than going through the whole palava with each gun house. I am from a trials background. So I lam looking forward to the inquiry to see how well set-up the gunnery system was (if it goes into that detail) and if it had been calibrated after the repairs in Fremantle. (I’m not implying that this had anything to do with the battle). I am guessing that the shell and cordite casing were both too heavy for them to be man-handled onto the loading trays. Was loading off the 6 inch dependant upon power? And where were the fuzes finally set? I am guessing that these whether HE or SAP, were mechanical. If you would kindly give me the name and mark of Sydney’s gunnery system I can probably ask for the technical notes from the historical area of the Defence Library System. Can you recall that detail please? Regards
I am unsure where the Captain of the Gunhose sat and how he controlled the guns. From Gunnery Pocket Book at URL: http://hnsa.org/doc/br224/index.htm
I believe in local control you needed to be able to see the enemy target, probably why X turret had gunhouse hatches open. You are probably right in tuning one turret to the Director, then getting the other three to mesh. I am unsure whether fuses were set in the shell room or in the gunhouse. Sydney's main armament consisted of 8 breach loaded Mark XX111 guns in Mark XX1 twin turrets. I do not claim to be an expert in gunnery, my specialty was in the Torpedo Anti Submarine field and I qualified in UK in 1947-48, taking the very first combined Torpedo and Anti Submarine specialist course, prior to that they were two separate specialties. Regards,
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