Radar Gunnery | Secret 1943 Surface Combat Training Film

This appears to be the last surviving chapter of a series of classified training films made for the Royal Navy in 1943, detailing the workings of radar systems in a variety of roles, including search, anti-aircraft and fighter direction.
Titled "RADIOLOCATION (RDF) PART 7 : Operational use of Type Nos 273M and 284M in a cruiser", the film walks viewers through an unnamed Royal Navy Town Class cruiser's new surface gunnery radar technology and techniques.
It explains the abilities and roles of the associated radar sets, but also demonstrates the command network established aboard the ship to effectively apply this new technology to gunnery rangefinding and control.
This training documentary was produced by the Admiralty in conjunction with British Thomson-Houston (B-TH) - a British engineering and heavy industrial company specialising in naval electrical equipment, based at Rugby, Warwickshire, England.

[@jonrich62]

It's nice to hear Mr Cholmondley-Warner doing the voice over.

[@JGCR59]

"the plot can be inspected by the captain or the PCO... through a hole in the deck" Royal Navy high tech

[@MilBard]

There is so much there that is different from today's navies shown on that Town class: 1. Sound tubes in lieu of electric intercoms, 2. Paper for the plot with an anolog course computer, 3. All the radar antenna being manually turned, 4. Direct optical rangefinder directors with add on radar, 5. An open top bridge, 6. No AIC/CIC on a cruiser, 🤯 7. No plane position inicator (PPI) scopes anywhere. It is amazing how much the RN advanced between 1943 and 1945, technically.

[@welshpete12]

This is the voice of Alvar Lidell during the Second World War his voice became famous reading of news for us . Lidell made the announcement of Edward VIII's abdication in 1936. On 3 September 1939 he read the ultimatum to Germany from 10 Downing Street and then, at 11 a.m. introduced Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain . who told the nation that it was at war with Germany . Called up in1943 he reported for duty with the Royal Air Force in North London as an intelligence officer . Spending some time at Bletchley Park. In1946 became chief announcer of the BBC Third Programme . For us he was the voice of the BBC on the radio , this was long before we had TV .

[@givenfirstnamefamilyfirstn3935]

Notice the translator converting from _working class_ downstairs into _public school_ on top.

[@samuelglover7685]

This is like analog computation, implemented via bureaucracy. Ingenious and fascinating, thanks for making it available.

[@johnbradshaw7525]

My late Grandfather was a radar operator in HMS Westcott, a V&W Class Destroyer.

[@jacksprat9172]

What you do is fantastic Jamie and that was yet another historical gem. Thank you, its appreciated.

[@thomasrotweiler]

Fascinating. Install;ing new radar sets to existing ships must have posed some interesting problems - where to locate them, how to route all the communcaton channels, how to integrate them into a functioning system.

[@HansWHoefnagels]

And counter the weight of the systems positioned high above the water line...

[@jamesstewart553]

Always interested in the optics ( Ross/ Barr and Stroud ), that are part of the observation and ranging process, these WW2 training videos are certainly very good. Thank you.

[@maxmacdonald7174]

That plotter is nice, they do not make them like that anymore.

[@robbielee2148]

Very cool thx for publishing

[@a_ni_ma_l]

Amazing watch, thank you 👏

[@yidingliu8663]

So rare to see A scope in action nowadays with everything switching to PPI. It must take a real skilled operator back in the days to keep the range and bearing straight.

[@frankteunissen6118]

That Hipper class cruiser has had them on its radar for ages.

[@dmunro9076]

Excellent!

[@59patrickw]

some points remind me of gunnery training at HMS Cambridge shore base in plymouth in 1978 happy days with a whiff of cordite

[@Steve-GM0HUU]

👍Excellent videos, thank you.

[@ingosippel9653]

Very interesting channel, thank you very much

[@ivoryjohnson4662]

Great stuff it is amazing the technology they had and how they used it

[@jaxcrax9644]

Yeah, and after a couple hours they could fire

[@ivoryjohnson4662]

@@jaxcrax9644 somehow they won the war

[@huwzebediahthomas9193]

Top notch from the time. Lose lips sinks ships.

[@kennethdeanmiller7324]

Keep RDF Secret. As if you could really explain how RDF works to someone that has no idea exactly what RDF even is by it's initials. It was actually what was eventually known as radar. And it would continue to improve and be able to shoot down enemy aircraft as well as surface ships. During WW2 most US Ships would be retrofitted with so much radar that some of their guns would be removed to keep them from being too top heavy cuz of the vast radar arrays that would be installed. But radar use during night time & times of bad weather would cause many victories for the Royal Navy before the US even became involved in the war.

[@thomasbernecky2078]

After several decades spent reading about naval gunnery, and several more years spent enjoyably watching yt, I wondered about the mechanics of it, with those how exactly they were able to range the ships, how the shots appeared on those antique cathode ray tubes and how overs/unders were determined? You've stolen a march on Drach, and fulfilled my questions. Thanks and Cheers to AuC and the RN of eighty years ago. Hmm, I wanted to say thanks and stand you to a watery Aussie Beer but I couldn't find you on Patreon?

[@ArmouredCarriers]

Glad you liked it. But you can't compare making an old training film available to the hand-crafted detail Drach and Dr Clark put into their productions! As to patreon ... yeah, I dunno. Something about the concept doesn't fit comfortably with me. Perhaps I'm just too old for this newfangled gig economy I'm now a part of...

[@TrickiVicBB71]

A great listen before bed

[@huwzebediahthomas9193]

Jolly gosh yes.

[@styx14045]

RM Bandsmen manning the TS.

[@benwilson6145]

I always wondered what the pilot of the Ju88's shot down when above the clouds attacking PQ18 thought when they were suddenly hit. As far as I can find the first radar trained guns.

[@randyjohnson6845]

I got this wild idea that the captain and executive officer of the uss Indianapolis never had his ship in this kind of readiness after he dropped off the bomb..1945 American radar could easily see the conning tower of a Japanese submarine at torpedo range..he also had the equipment in 1945 to receive radar signals that the Japanese submarine had coming from its radar

[@benwilson6145]

I suspect that in a heavy sea the conning tower would be difficult to see in the clutter. It should also been in visual range

[@randyjohnson6845]

​@benwilson6145 ..there was no heavy sea..they were playing grab ass most of the day and night...get this thru your head..some how the captain knew what he was carrying and he some how knew that in just days or weeks the war would be over...they would have told rhe captain about the bomb..he wasn't eager to get back in the war..he acted like he was killing time instead of keeping high alert on a submarine..he could go 32.75 knots and be safe from torpedoes ..but he was dragging his feet..wake up...30 knots and zigzaging his ship is safe

[@kennethdeanmiller7324]

I keep expecting one of the Monty Python's like John Cleese to jump up & make some joke but it never happens. I think it's cuz of those things they have on their heads reminds of "The Holy Grail" movie.

[@JGCR59]

All this of course assumes that Hipper has no radar or radar detection sensors whatsoever ;)

[@user-rr4po3he1n]

The Germans declined comment when asked. LOL

[@benwilson6145]

Should have said Italian!

[@andrewhayes7055]

By jove that was interesting.😄

[@user-rr4po3he1n]

No PPI?

[@ArmouredCarriers]

I think that only began mass production in mid-late '43.

[@hardykornfeld1733]

Highlights the importance of pencils in naval warfare.

[@ArmouredCarriers]

So a single small screw fell out of the plot board of a Town Class cruiser during a practice shoot on the way to Okinawa. The results were ... humiliating. They had to disassemble the whole thing to discover the source of the fault.

[@kidmohair8151]

"by jove, old chaps, those bloody seagulls keep getting in the way, whatwhat?"

[@wayinfront1]

I promise I won't tell anyone!

[@JGCR59]

Btw, what's a PCO? Google doesn't really give an answer

[@paulm1365]

Principal Control Officer.

[@DowntheJunction]

I wonder if Drachinifel could identify the ship concerned ?

[@kristoffermangila]

All we know about the ship in the video is that its a Modified Fiji-class cruiser.

[@ArmouredCarriers]

It is one of the original Town Class. You can see this from a few features, but most obvious is the curved front to the bridge. The Fiji's went square for ease of manufacture and assembly.

[@kristoffermangila]

@@ArmouredCarriers oh, so this is one of HMS Belfast's siblings, then?

[@ArmouredCarriers]

@@kristoffermangila This is "Batch 1", Belfast is the stretched "Batch 2" version.

[@kristoffermangila]

@@ArmouredCarriers so that means its one of the Southampton subclass ships, then. Which narrows it down to four ships: HMS Newcastle, HMS Sheffield, HMS Birmingham and HMS Glasgow.

[@nicolek4076]

KZbin's voice recognition is having major problems with 1940s-era clipped English accents.

[@ArmouredCarriers]

Sorry. And I'm afraid doing voice transcripts is a bridge too far for a single-person production team.

[@nicolek4076]

@@ArmouredCarriers I was having a dig at the limitations of US-designed technology, and certainly not at you. It also grates when it uses the US spelling for things that are specifically British, such as the UK Labor (sic) Party.

[@ArmouredCarriers]

Heh, that's fine. But I really am sorry I can't get to transcripts - I want to, but just can't make the time. @@nicolek4076