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On Thu, 6/19/14, Rupert Boleyn <rupert.boleyn@gmail.com> wrote:

 Subject: Re: [TML] Ship Design & the 'Plankwells'
 To: tml@simplelists.com
 Date: Thursday, June 19, 2014, 10:17 PM

 On 20/06/2014 07:42, Kurt
 Feltenberger wrote:
 > On 6/19/2014 3:32 PM, Phil Pugliese (via tml list)
 wrote:
 >> Hadn't read that, thanks for the info.
 >>
 >> So, in the end, we're back to the old axiom that
 there's no precaution
 >> that a dedicated human being can't bypass!
 >
 > Pretty much so.  In the end, it was a training and
 doctrine issue; the
 > doctrine focused on firing as fast as possible as
 opposed to accuracy
 > and then ignoring the safety training that they had all
 been trained to
 > follow.
 >
 Given director control and automated firing (to allow for
 the ship's
 roll), highest loading speed possible would have a
 negligible effect on
 accuracy ('merely' on safety).

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As I recall 'director control and automated firing' were a new 'secret weapon' that only the RN had.

It was so new that I don't believe that the RN BC's that fought against the german ships at the Falklands had had it installed yet.

I read an article once that compared the RN firing procedures to the german ones in WWI & it seemed surprising to me that the germans were generally more accurate, altho the article did state that the 'old-fashioned' method they used *did* allow for a somewhat tighter 'pattern' of shell-fall.

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