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fire control - Newest

Nebula Hawk has currently reviewed the following:

HMS Hood 1937 - Front Conning Tower

Here we can see, what I regard as HMS Hood's front conning tower:

HMS Hood 1937 - Front Conning Tower
HMS Hood 1937 - Front Conning Tower

Though technically the term conning tower, only applies to the elliptical structure on the front (with the rest being superstructure). The conning tower itself, was concerned with the aiming of the primary armament 15 inch naval guns. It was protected by armour of up to 11 inches thick: to ensure that Hood's 15 inch naval guns, could be aimed and fired, even in the heaviest action. The superstructure itself, was concerned with both the manoeuvrability of HMS Hood (such as steering and navigation), and further fire control (for both the secondary armament, and anti-aircraft guns). The superstructure was soft (aka thinly protected), to save armour weight. It included such equipment as: search lights, 3 pounder saluting guns, quadruple 0.5 inch anti-aircraft guns, eight barrelled two pounder anti-aircraft pom-poms directors, 5.5 inch secondary armament directors, evershed transmitters and air defence platform equipment (e.g. binoculars).

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HMS Hood 1937 - Front Conning Tower - Lower Levels

Here we can see the first, second and third decks of HMS Hood's front Conning Tower Superstructure:

HMS Hood 1937 - Front Conning Tower - Lower Levels
HMS Hood 1937 - Front Conning Tower - Lower Levels

Of particular interest are: i) The quadruple 0.5 inch anti-aircraft guns. These were designed to put up a wall of fire, that it was believed, would help disintegrate enemy aircraft (that were targeting the bridge). ii) The 3 pounder saluting guns. These were a peace time addition, mainly used when conducting ceremonies - that were removed in times of war. iii) The secondary armament (twelve 5.5 inch naval guns) fire control directors - the rotatable cylinder with a view slit in the front. iv) The various signal search lights, which were used to communicate visually, with other warships.

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HMS Hood 1937 - Air Defence Platform

Here we can see the look out posts for the various crew members of HMS Hood, that were tasked with looking out for enemy aircraft:

HMS Hood 1937 - Air Defence Platform
HMS Hood 1937 - Air Defence Platform

Most of these involved some sort of optical sight (such as binoculars), whereby it's operator would locate enemy aircraft, then obtain various measurements (such as bearing and elevation), which in-turn, was fed into several (analogue) fire control computers, which in-turn was relayed to the gun operators (who opened fire). Hood's anti-aircraft guns, were also capable of local control, when (for example) such bridge tower directors had been knocked out.

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fire control - All

HMS Hood 1937 - Air Defence PlatformHMS Hood 1937 - Front Conning TowerHMS Hood 1937 - Front Conning Tower - Lower Levels