Vince O'Hara
10-23-2009, 09:32 PM
I got this book two weeks ago. Short review: Fantastic.
It's a rare combination of clear prose, excellent and comprehensive line drawings, great maps and wonderful photographs. There were some questions about the Dunkerque's main guns in this forum. Here is a sample of the type of information to be found in John Jordan's book:
"An important innovation of the Saint Chamond turret was its ability to load at all angles of elevation rather than at a fixed angle, which theoretically reduced loading times, thereby securing a faster firing cycle. In order to facilitate this, an electric chain rammer was carried on an extension from each gun cradle, and the profile of the upper guide rails for the cage hoists was matched to the arc of the breech of the gun as the gun was elevated, with movement of the hoist synchronised with the elevating motors via a clutch and transmission system (see drawings in Chapter 4). In practice, problems were often experienced with the shell becoming jammed in the breech at higher angles when the other guns in the mounting were fired, and reloading was generally cararied out a 15 degrees elevation to avoid this." (38)
There are also five chapters covering the operations of the Dunkerque and Richelieu classes. This is much more than commonly found in technical references and it's all very good.
Vince
It's a rare combination of clear prose, excellent and comprehensive line drawings, great maps and wonderful photographs. There were some questions about the Dunkerque's main guns in this forum. Here is a sample of the type of information to be found in John Jordan's book:
"An important innovation of the Saint Chamond turret was its ability to load at all angles of elevation rather than at a fixed angle, which theoretically reduced loading times, thereby securing a faster firing cycle. In order to facilitate this, an electric chain rammer was carried on an extension from each gun cradle, and the profile of the upper guide rails for the cage hoists was matched to the arc of the breech of the gun as the gun was elevated, with movement of the hoist synchronised with the elevating motors via a clutch and transmission system (see drawings in Chapter 4). In practice, problems were often experienced with the shell becoming jammed in the breech at higher angles when the other guns in the mounting were fired, and reloading was generally cararied out a 15 degrees elevation to avoid this." (38)
There are also five chapters covering the operations of the Dunkerque and Richelieu classes. This is much more than commonly found in technical references and it's all very good.
Vince