This ship, the Inflexible, arrived at the Dardanelles just in time to join in the first naval action directed against the land batteries. During the first part of the engagement our engineer remained with the Master Compass which was installed near the dynamo room. When he saw that it was functioning properly he left it to go on deck and view the action, the effects of which he had become aware of, as a number of shells from the land batteries had hit the ship. Almost immediately after he arrived on deck a torpedo struck the ship directly under the compartment where the Gyro-Compass was located, killing every man in that compartment. Although badly damaged the ship was able to get out of range of the land batteries and reach the naval base near the Dardanelles.
The Gyro-Compass was, of course, almost totally destroyed. Shortly after the action ended our engineer was enabled to get ashore on a Greek island via one of the British destroyers. This island had a telegraph station which he used to cable us that “Equipment No. 286 is under four feet of water,” and that we should have another equipment ready to replace it. We took this telegram to the Admiralty who authorized us to have another equipment prepared to meet this ship at Gibraltar. This we did, again sending a Service Engineer who met the ship at Gibraltar, on her way back to England to be repaired and refitted.
The Sperry Service Organization stands ready to help all ships equipped with a Gyro-Compass at all times, even in emergencies such as those experienced by naval vessels.
Service Given to the World’s Navies by the Gyro-Compass
At the time of the battle of Coronel on the west coast of South America, H. M. S. Invincible was being overhauled at the Portsmouth Dockyard in England. She was immediately ordered with one other large British ship to South American waters under the command of Admiral Sturdee, to re-enforce the British fleet, and then to find and destroy the German ships which had defeated the British at the battle of Coronel. When the overhaul of the Invincible was completed and she was ready to leave the docks, it was at first planned to delay sailing until the ship could be swung and the magnetic compasses compensated. It was decided, however, that although the compasses were badly in need of adjustment it was necessary to save every minute in order to reach South American waters before the German ships could find and destroy the British ships remaining in those waters. The Invincible therefore sailed without adjusting her magnetic compasses and navigated entirely by the Sperry Gyro-Compass from Portsmouth to the Falkland Islands. When an azimuth was finally taken the magnetic compass was found to be out about 22 degrees. The Invincible arrived at the Falkland Islands just in time to coal before the German fleet appeared. If H. M. S. Invincible had not had a Gyro-Compass the probabilities are that she would not have reached the Falkland Islands in time to win the battle which took place almost immediately upon her arrival.
The Coracle of ancient Britain, still used in Wales.
Figure 49 shows a British submarine, a sister ship of the E-11, that entered the Sea of Marmora through the Dardanelles for the purpose of destroying Turkish and German shipping. The E-11 put a torpedo right into Constantinople harbor. The Second Officer of the E-11 in relating this exploit, stated that they steered by the “Sperry” all the way in and out. His remark was that, “It never let me down.”
In this exploit, and many others of a similar nature, the Gyro-Compass was used for all navigation. These extremely daring and hazardous operations would not have been possible without this instrument.