Journal-Destroyer-5705.Pdf
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-FEATURES- connected to a receiving device in Destroyer Electronics -- Then and Now the ship by which a good operator could obtain approximate bearings of contacts. By E. II. Fitzgerald substantiated many times, is of a In the early thirties an under and working contact between a ship in water telegraph communication J. L. Baker Ship Type Electronics Engineering the Canal Zone and a shore sta system was developed and in Branch, tion at San Diego, or even as far stalled. This equipment contained Bureau of Ships north as Bremerton, on the old a total of 30 vacuum tubes and had ship- shore frequency of 355 kilocy two transmitting antennas and To appreciate the advancements cles. Other ships have worked three receiving antennas. made in the electronics installa similar distances between the The total cost of the electronic tion in a fleet destroyer, it is only Canal Zone and east coast shore installation in a four-stack de necessary to go back a quarter of stations. stroyer was about $30,000. The a century and live again the "good However, it must be remembered cost to install was approximately old days" on a U.S. Navy "four- that those ships could have flattop $7,000. These figures, it must be piper tin can." antenna lengths of 150 feet, where remembered, were the going price The missions of the "tin cans" as the picture has changed drasti during the days of the depression, were comparable to some extent cally with the advent of later types and no comparison between them with the missions of the later de of destroyers and greater quantities and similar costs today is intended. stroyers: antisubmarine work, shipboard electronic equipment and To maintain and operate the screening for the battle line, scout associated antennas. equipment on a typical 1930 de ing, delivering high-speed torpedo The TAD covered a frequency stroyer, the ship was allowed, and attacks on enemy surface ships, band from 2,000 to 3,000 kilocy usually had on board, a chief ra gunfire assaults on attacking ships, cles and had 2 electron tubes with dioman, one radioman of each first, and, to a much lesser extent, anti a rated output of 100 watts. The second, and third classes, and a aircraft fire. It can be truthfully TAD was, by its nature, a short- striker. said that the expression "they were range medium-frequency transmit The "chief," who was usually expendable" applied to the old four- ter used primarily for division or the material man, was charged with pipers. squadron communications during the maintenance and upkeep of the To carry out its mission, the tactical maneuvering and for rou equipment. He was assisted in destroyer of 25 years ago had a tine traffic when in port. It had a this job by the first-class radio very small electronics installation vertical wire antenna about 40 feet man. The second- and third-class consisting primarily of three basic long for a radiator. radiomen and the striker usually types: Radio, sound listening de Three receivers were provided stood the operator watches except vices, and a direction finder. on those ships—models RE, RF, when more than one watch stander The radio room on the main deck and RG, with a combined frequency was required. immediately below the bridge was coverage of 10 kilocycles to 20,000 Maintenance was of a minor approximately 8 by 10 feet. In kilocycles. The oldtimers will nature. It consisted primarily of stalled in the radio room were the well remember these receivers for battery charging, tube changing, transmitters and receivers with their wonderful "microphonic" re occasional receiver repair, and position facilities for three opera sponse when they were tapped with once in a great while transmitter tors. a finger or hand, or while an op or motor generator repair. The standard installation con erator was trying to copy a weak In the mid-thirties the Navy ac sisted of a model TU series trans signal with a typewriter. The re quired the first new destroyers mitter for low-frequency coverage ceivers had the "peanut" type of built in about 15 years. These de and a model TAD transmitter for electron tubes, which were battery stroyers incorporated many im medium- frequency coverage. De operated, with 2 volts on the fila provements over the four-pipers in stroyers of that era had no require ment and 45 volts on the plate. tonnage, hull length, beam, top ment for a high-frequency transmit The direction finder was a stand side outline, engines, ordnance, ter and none was installed. ard low-frequency receiver with and electronics. The new ships The frequency coverage of the some added refinements. It had a were grouped under classes that TU was from 155 to 565 kilocycles rotatable loop antenna that was were determined by various dif and consisted of 7 electron tubes mounted atop the after deckhouse. ferences in construction or equip with a rated output of 2,000 watts. Its function was to determine the ment, but the electronics installa The TU had a two- wire flat top bearing of a received signal within tion on all of them was essentially antenna 150 feet long with a down the frequency range of the receiver. identical. lead of approximately 40 feet. Many The sound installation on a 1930 Each ship had a low-frequency stories have been told of the amaz destroyer was very limited, con transmitter model TAJ covering a ing ranges obtained by the trans sisting of several hull-mounted range from 175 to 600 kilocycles; mitter and antenna. hydrophones on the port and star a medium-frequency, high-frequen A typical story, which has been board sides. The hydrophones were cy transmitter covering 2,000 to May 1957 11 -FEATURES- 18,000 kilocycles; a low-frequency the optical rangefinder could come The cost of the electronics in receiver model RAA covering 10 into operation— who then could deny stallation (not including that of fire kilocycles to 1,000 kilocycles in radar capabilities? control radars) on a Fletcher-class five bands; and a medium-frequen In the night battles of the war, type of destroyer at the end of cy, high-frequency receiver model radar really came into its own. World War II was about $ 150,000. RAB covering 1,000 kilocycles to For at night, no other method than The cost to install the equipment 30,000 kilocycles in eight bands. radar can detect approaching enemy was about $50,000. The total num The RAA and RAB models were craft, and no other method can ob ber of electron tubes in a typical the first superheterodyne receivers tain range, bearing, course, and installation was many times the installed in destroyers. They were speed. number contained in a four-stack the first receivers that could be Before the close of World War II, destroyer; the two radars alone operated from the ship's powerline, many other new techniques ap had more than 100 tubes. a capability that eliminated the peared in destroyers and in other The number of technicians al need for batteries. types of ships. An electronic lowed, and on board, had not at In addition to the radio trans method of identification in which that time been increased commen mitters and receivers, each ship the principles of radar were used surate with the increase in quan had a low- frequency direction finder was introduced. It proved satis tity and complexity of equipment. and an improved underwater sound factory, particularly in the identi Many destroyers had on board only installation. For the first time, a fication of approaching aircraft. one or two qualified technicians to sonar equipment with echo-ranging capabilities was installed in de stroyers. The first of these equip ments was designated model QC. The QC equipments, plus later models such as the QCA and QCB, were the mainstays of U.S. anti submarine warfare all through World War II. Many refinements and some improvements in presentation of information, such as the bearing deviation indicator (BDI), were in stalled as rapidly as they were produced and furnished to the Fleet. When World War II began, and as equipments became available, de stroyers and other Fleet units were outfitted with a new development in electronics—radar. The first types of radar to be in stalled on destroyers were the SC Top: The USS Gamble (1)1)- 121) before her conversion to a high-speed minelayer series air search radar, the SG in 1929. The Gamble was typical of the four-stack destroyers of World War I. series surface search radar, and Bottom: A broadside view of the USS Forrest Sherman (DD-931), the first in the the FD (later designated mark 4) latest class of Fleet destroyers. fire control radar. All of these radars did yeoman work throughout World War II. U.S. superiority in radar equipment ana operating per sonnel were major contributing factors to success in surface and air-surface battles. However, as most oldtimers will remember, it was sometimes diffi cult to persuade skippers and gunnery officers of the value of the new device. But later, when these officers were alerted to the pres Jt »*> »-»- ence of an enemy surface or air craft long before human lookouts spotted them, and when, after proper acquisition of the fire con trol radars, the enemy was fired on and hit or sunk, even before 12 BuShips Journal -FEATURES- maintain all of the electronics the very latest of these equipments equivalent number of manually and equipment, including the fire con are installed in our Fleet de automatically operated receivers trol radars.