The Thunderer and Orion are both of the same design and both cost the same amount to build.
The Thunderer, fitted with the “Director,” at a target 10,000 yards distant made eighty per cent. of hits. Such shooting as this was a revelation; nothing like it had ever been dreamed of. It was four or five times better practice than the Orion could make fitted with the “fire-control” system. It was better than any record made at 2,000 yards in the gunlayer’s tests.
In simple language Sir Percy Scott’s invention increased the hitting power of a ship, at long range and in a heavy sea, by four hundred per cent.
With its aid a tremendous broadside can be fired from a Dreadnought. The officer in charge of the “Director” has a special “cabin” or “room” in the fore of the ship, from which he can control and fire every gun. He can discover the exact range of the enemy, and the precise elevation for the guns. Every operation is controlled by the “Director”—excepting, of course, loading and cleaning the guns.
The Thunderer in 1913 could fire ten shells, each weighing 1,250 lbs., in one broadside. Each shell has a penetrating power of 1 foot at 10,000 yards.
The Iron Duke, Admiral Jellicoe’s flagship in 1914, can do even better than this.
[CHAPTER X]
SUPREME ADMIRAL OF THE HOME FLEETS
Nineteen hundred and thirteen was a very busy year for Sir John Jellicoe. On May 16th he left England for Germany to attend the wedding festivities of the Emperor’s only daughter, Princess Victoria Louise, who was to be married to Prince Ernest of Cumberland.