Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length.

[ballastanksian]

In doing research for future Monitor projects, I have been studying images of the director housings that sat on top of the spotting tops.


These are drum shaped and have a slightly domed roof and what appears to be a strap about 5/8ths of the way up the body.


I assume the top 3/8ths of the housing rotated to follow the gun layers and trainers sights, and it seems that there were two openings in this top piece and also a larger opening. There is a hint in one photograph that the housing has a rear access door in the lower section, but this may not be the same in all classes of battleship and monitor, but would certainly be logical for the Invincible's directors


An image in the Buxton Bible of HMS Havelock at Lowestoft shows the spotting top from below. This displays the open floor of the director held up by a web of steels (Page 32).


Can anyone confirm my gibberings? I studied Nick and Geoff's build logs and have gained much understanding of the shape but not yet the way the openings work as I do like to detail my models and would like to have the ports open if possible. Indeed, the adventurous speck of me has considered making the director traverse with the turret 

[raflaunches]

There are some excellent drawings of directors in the Anatomy of the Ship book The Battleship Dreadnought. If nothing scans it before this weekend for you I’ll fetch my copy out and upload the picture.

[ballastanksian]

Thanks Nick. It'ss one of those Bees that I have in my bonnet. I want to understand an item as well as model it so I can get the most out of it, like with the 9.2 inch turret on the Monitor. Luckily, I have two good drawing references for that in books. There might be better references on a plan I have of Princess Royal, but if you have more detailed info I would appreciate it.


Do you need any 3pdr HA or 2Pdr Pompoms?

[Geoff]

There are some differences as some are literally like a dustbin with a domed top and completely circular. At the front there are sliding panels to reveal the actual director sights. Some are indented at the top front and again with panels to reveal the sights.


The circular girdle is indeed allows the top half to pivot. I have struggled to find clear access panels at the back but believe they must have been sliding doors to allow the operators to get in.


The directors were constantly being upgrades and there were slight differences in the manufacturers how they built them.


You are correct regarding the supports as the directors were relatively heavy so needed both a strong support for the weight and to minimize vibration. They were lightly built and could only survive small splinters. In later ships there was a second director built into the rangefinder position on top of the conning tower. The concept being the mast position would be used until put out of action and the lower position used thereafter as it was armored so had much greater survivability.


Later versions has a light screen round the bottom half which was curved outwards like a trumpet to deflect splinters. It was impossible to armor them high in the ship for stability reasons and any practicable armor was pointless because it could not survive a direct hit (or glancing blow) from a 11" or 12" or bigger projectile. Either way the concussion would have put the unit out of operation.


Cheers


Geoff

[ballastanksian]

I did wonder as I had noticed slight differences in the face of the directors seen, but as the images are often quite well exposed, or the grey used is so light as to reflect light back to the glass negatives, I wasn't sure the differences were actual or imagined. I will study them again and take initial notes on details. Thanks for your help Geoff 

[raflaunches]

Hi Ian


In case you didn’t have a copy of the Anatomy of the ship Battleship Dreadnought here is the image from the book. Hope this helps a bit.

[ballastanksian]

That tells me loads and confirms what I am seeing in the photos Nick. I saw a black oblong at the bottom rear of a director in one photo and this ties up with seeing a lockable hatch in much the same area in the illustration.

Thanks a lot for your help as ever Nick. I am like a kiddie awaiting Christmas morning now waiting for the magazine to arrive.