Coast Artillery Gun Laying
Most coast artillery was in fixed defences, "fortresses" in some form. Their targets moved in two dimensions, and, like anti-aircraft laying, the gun had to be aimed at the target's future position. Again like anti-aircraft, some guns were relatively small calibre and dealt with relatively close targets, others were much larger for long-range targets. Since the targets were far better protected than aircraft, the coast guns were larger.
Coast artillery employed direct fire, and until the late 19th century laying had changed little, apart from gaining telescopic sights, over the centuries. Nineteenth-century improvements in gun design and ammunition greatly extended their effective range.
In 1879 Major HS Watkins of the Royal Garrison Artillery invented the position-range finder and associated fire control. He had already invented the depression range-finder. His description explains its essence: "The position-finder traces the course of the ship, and when the guns are ready to lay, predicts the position the ship will occupy half a minute or more in advance. The dials on the gun floor automatically indicate the range and training to hit the predicted position. When the guns are laid an electric tube (i.e. primer) is inserted and the signal goes up to the observing station that all is ready for firing. The non-commissioned officer in charge of the position-finder watches for the appearance of the ship in the field of view of his telescope, and when she arrives at the cross wires presses a button, and the guns are fired."
It took almost 20 years to get it to full effectiveness, but its general principle became the norm for heavy coast artillery fire control and laying. Shorter-range guns retained conventional direct-fire laying with telescopes for much longer. In the 20th century, coast artillery, like field and the larger anti-aircraft guns, included corrections for non-standard conditions such as wind and temperature in their calculations. Coast artillery passed into history in most countries in the 1950s.
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