| Notes:
1) Telescopic power rammers were used,
but the firing cycle was much slower than in earlier mountings.
2) These mountings had very through flash
precautions, which may have contributed to the slower ROF. However,
the use of turrets meant that much of the ammunition supply could be automated,
thus reducing crew fatigue, and they had better arcs of fire both in both
the horizontal and vertical planes. As they were mounted on the weather
deck, this also meant that they were drier and could function even in heavy
seas that would wash out the broadside mounts of earlier designs.
3) Turrets were powered by a 60 bhp electric
motor driving a hydraulic pump. A single swashplate engine was used
for training while elevation was apparently by a swashplate engine turning
a worm gear.
4) The ammunition supply for these mountings
was somewhat clumsy. There was a lower magazine with one handling
room. Two hoists supplied the working spaces of P1 and S1 turrets
(the forward ones on each side), while an upper magazine with two handling
rooms and four hoists supplied the working spaces of the other four turrets.
The shell room was above the lower magazine and was equipped with six hoists.
The charge hoists were endless chains while the shell hoists were of a
pusher type, all of which were electrically powered. The upper hoists
from the handling rooms to the turrets were hydraulically powered.
There was one charge and one shell hoist per gun. Charges were stored
in Clarkson's cases and went up the hoist in them and not removed until
just before loading. The cases were returned to the working chamber
via a tube and then to the magazines by the down side of the lower hoists
and through flashtight scuttles.
5) The following comments are from the
report by Capt. Thomas Hugh Binney (RN) to the Admiralty upon finishing
his tour of command of Nelson in 1930:
In the case of the secondary armament,
although the rate of fire is rather low, the increased range at which fire
can be opened, and the absence of loss of output due to fatigue, combined
with excellent ammunition supply arrangements, will be a very pronounced
factor in war.
In view of the modern tendency of construction
for 'all or nothing' armour protection leaving controls and secondary batteries
unprotected, the possibility for using the secondary battery for 'harassing
fire' at the main armoured target when the range has been found assumes
greater importance, and in Nelson the secondary armament can do this efficiently
without loss of anti-torpedo boat efficiency.
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