Next message: Joel Jacobs: "Re: Battenberg Course Indicator"
A very similar device was used by our Navy in WW II. I have seen them a couple of times, but have never paid much attention nor have I saved the information or taken pictures. The interesting thing is that it stood the test of time and was in service over here. Maybe Henry H. can offer some insight.
Joel Jacobs
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-------------- Original message from Paul Hirose <cfuhb-acdgw at EARTHLINK dot NET>: --------------
> I came across this by chance while prowling the Internet. "The
> Battenberg Course Indicator was invented in 1892 by Captain H. S. H.
> Prince Louis of Battenberg, G.C.B., afterwards Admiral-of-the-Fleet The
> Marquess of Milford Haven, P.C., G.C.B., G.C.V.O., K.C.M.G., LL.D. It is
> practically the mooring board in mechanical form, and is designed for
> the rapid solution of a series of ordinary speed and distance triangles
> frequently met with in fleet work."
>
> To me the instrument looks like a mechanization of the maneuvering
> board. It has arms and sliders on which you set up the inputs and read
> the outputs. "Owing to the small inaccuracies inseparable from an
> instrument built with moving parts on robust lines, the answers
> furnished by individual instruments will vary slightly."
>
> http://www.gwpda.org/naval/ou5274.htm
> (This consists of scans of the instructions, and photos showing the
> setups for several example problems. It must total a couple meg, so
> there will be a delay with a dial-up connection.)
>
> There are several other interesting links at the parent site. "Boxing
> the compass, points of the compass", etc.
>
> http://www.gwpda.org/naval/n0000000.htm#swt
>
> I found the 1908 document "Coaling from a Collier" interesting, though
> the instructions were about 70% incomprehensible due to the thicket of
> terminology. Good grief, what a detestable task coaling must have been!
> "The first maxim in coaling should be to get every single officer and
> man that can be spared, into the collier to dig out the coal... You will
> find at the commencement of a commission, that there are various ratings
> who look upon it as a right to be excused coaling. Meet them with a
> stony eye, and say there is no such thing as 'having a right' when the
> coal has to come in."
>
> The author, Christopher Cradock, commanded the small British force that
> confronted von Spee's powerful squadron in the battle off Coronel in
> 1914. He was killed when his cruiser HMS Good Hope blew up.
