Re: Naval Gunfire Question


"Jerry" <prather.js@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote ...
On Thu, 30 Mar 2006 16:05:05 UTC, "a425couple"
<a425couple@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Meanwhile, one small question, can anyone tell me how
many crew sat in the 'director control tower' on a WWII
Fletcher DD?

I'll assume that you're talking about the omnipresent MK 37 Gun Fire
Control System (GFCS) director. In the front there was the director
officer, a pointer, and a trainer. In the back was a rangefinder
operator (operating an optical rangefinder). I think that in some of
the early versions there might have been a radar operator back there
as well, but in the "newer" directors the pointer and trainer each had
small radar scopes and the entire system locked on and tracked
automatically when the pointer and trainer were on target and the
radar return was strong enough.


The original/early war versions with radar did have an extra body aft (or at
least a stool) who I presume operated the radar gear. There was was so
rigged at Dam neck in the early Summer of '62.

TMO


.

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