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| Fire Control |
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| As of October 1944 |
| In addition each of the ten 40mm
gun mounts had a Mark 51 director and the 20mm (14 of the 44) had a Mark 14 gun director |
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Fire Control......how to aim a gun with the focus on the 14inch which means Plot
Room. The gun directors of the other three sizes only had a power circuit
that went through Plot. Though not part of the September 1910 contract plans, several 1914, drawing title reference TEXAS having a Plot Room for central fire control. The original Plot Room was located in the aft part of the Handling Room, for Turret 2. The present day Plot Room location was created during the 1925-1926 modernization. The location is the forward part of Boiler Room 1. When the ship arrived in Pearl Harbor in December 1944, a freon-12 air conditioning unit was installed. Before BB35 was moved to TEXAS, in 1948, the Range Keepers, Stable Element, and all gun directors were removed. Of the remaining equipment in Plot, the Rangekeepers, are the same units aboard in 1928. A 1928 microfilm drawing contains Mark 1 Mod 11 in the drawing title about wiring. The mod is eleven and not a roman numeral 2. The various panels (except for the 3inch gun panels) were installed during the 1925 - 1926 modernization. The 14inch gun switch panel still has the 1926 manufacturing tag. A TEXAS type Dead Reckoning Tracer table was still being installed on USN ships built up to 1985. The battleship NEW JERSEY still had a DRT that is only one mark newer then the TEXAS unit. The below diagram provides a basic over view. Thanks to Herb Powers for providing additional information to complete the diagram. |
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Started 11 May 1999 Chuck Moore, FTV (1st Texas Volunteers) BB35 volunteer group