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70-542: The Nebelwurfgerät was a turret mounted launcher used to disperse the Schnellnebelkerze 39 smoke grenade . It was typically found on German tanks from 1942 through 1943. The Nebelwurfgerät was mounted in two sets of three, one on each forward side wall of the turret with each launcher being 9 centimetres (3.5 in) in calibre by 15 centimetres (6 in) in length . The uppermost launcher tubes were oriented forward and angled slightly outwards while

140-427: A clock tower improves the visibility of the clock, and the height of a tower in a fortified building such as a castle increases the visibility of the surroundings for defensive purposes. Towers may also be built for observation , leisure, or telecommunication purposes. A tower can stand alone or be supported by adjacent buildings, or it may be a feature on top of a larger structure or building. Old English torr

210-410: A tower . A small turret, or sub-turret set on top of a larger one, is called a cupola . The term cupola is also used for a rotating turret that carries a sighting device rather than weaponry, such as that used by a tank commander. Before the development of large-calibre, long-range guns in the mid-19th century, the classic battleship design used rows of gunport-mounted guns on each side of

280-418: A better view of the surrounding areas, including battlefields. They were constructed on defensive walls , or rolled near a target (see siege tower ). Today, strategic-use towers are still used at prisons, military camps, and defensive perimeters. By using gravity to move objects or substances downward, a tower can be used to store items or liquids like a storage silo or a water tower , or aim an object into

350-502: A combination of simple strength and stiffness, as well as in some cases tuned mass dampers to damp out movements. Varying or tapering the outer aspect of the tower with height avoids vibrations due to vortex shedding occurring along the entire building simultaneously. Although not correctly defined as towers, many modern high-rise buildings (in particular skyscraper ) have 'tower' in their name or are colloquially called 'towers'. Skyscrapers are more properly classified as 'buildings'. In

420-578: A failed 1916 experiment, a variant of the SPAD S.A two-seat fighter was probably the first aircraft to be fitted with a remotely-controlled gun, which was located in a nose nacelle . As aircraft flew higher and faster, the need for protection from the elements led to the enclosure or shielding of the gun positions, as in the "lobsterback" rear seat of the Hawker Demon biplane fighter. The first British operational bomber to carry an enclosed, power-operated turret

490-453: A gun turret mounted along the side, or the wings, of a warship , off the centerline. The positioning of a wing turret limits the gun's arc of fire, so that it generally can contribute to only the broadside weight of fire on one side of the ship. This is the major weakness of wing turrets as broadsides were the most prevalent type of gunnery duels. Depending on the configurations of ships, such as HMS Dreadnought but not SMS  Blücher ,

560-416: A large, cylindrical gun turret mounted amidships above the low-freeboard upper hull , also referred to as the "raft". This extended well past the sides of the lower, more traditionally shaped hull. A small, armoured pilot house was fitted on the upper deck towards the bow; however, its position prevented Monitor from firing her guns straight forward. Like Coles's, one of Ericsson's goals in designing

630-429: A revolving gun turret. Coles's aim was to create a ship with the greatest possible all round arc of fire, as low in the water as possible to minimise the target. The Admiralty accepted the principle of the turret gun as a useful innovation, and incorporated it into other new designs. Coles submitted a design for a ship having ten domed turrets each housing two large guns. The design was rejected as impractical, although

700-425: A ship's upperworks and secondary armaments, as distances of battle were limited by fire control and weapon performance. In the early 1900s, weapon performance, armour quality and vessel speeds generally increased along with the distances of engagement; the utility of large secondary batteries reducing as a consequence, and in addition at extreme range it was impossible to see the fall of lesser weapons and so correct

770-474: A small team passing fixed ammunition into the feed system. Smaller calibre weapons often operate on the autocannon principle, and indeed may not even be turrets at all; they may just be bolted directly to the deck. On board warships, each turret is given an identification. In the British Royal Navy , these would be letters: "A" and "B" were for the turrets from the front of the ship backwards in front of

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840-547: A turret mounting, except for large destroyers, like the American Fletcher and the German Narvik classes. In naval terms, turret traditionally and specifically refers to a gun mounting where the entire mass rotates as one, and has a trunk that projects below the deck . The rotating part of a turret seen above deck is the gunhouse, which protects the mechanism and crew, and is where the guns are loaded. The gunhouse

910-399: A turret where the rammer is fixed to the cradle that carries the guns, allowing loading to occur across a wider range of elevations. Earlier turrets differed significantly in their operating principles. It was not until the last of the "rotating drum" designs described in the previous section were phased out that the "hooded barbette" arrangement above became the standard. A wing turret is

980-407: Is a tall structure , taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting structures. Towers are specifically distinguished from buildings in that they are built not to be habitable but to serve other functions using the height of the tower. For example, the height of

1050-698: Is from Latin turris via Old French tor . The Latin term together with Greek τύρσις was loaned from a pre-Indo-European Mediterranean language, connected with the Illyrian toponym Βου-δοργίς. With the Lydian toponyms Τύρρα, Τύρσα, it has been connected with the ethnonym Τυρρήνιοι as well as with Tusci (from *Turs-ci ), the Greek and Latin names for the Etruscans (Kretschmer Glotta 22, 110ff.) Towers have been used by humankind since prehistoric times. The oldest known may be

1120-465: Is handled, and the main trunk, which accommodates the shell and propellant hoists that bring ammunition up from the magazines below. There may be a combined hoist ( cf the animated British turret) or separate hoists ( cf the US turret cutaway). The working chamber and trunk rotate with the gunhouse, and sit inside a protective armoured barbette . The barbette extends down to the main armoured deck (red in

1190-475: Is supported on a bed of rotating rollers, and is not necessarily physically attached to the ship at the base of the rotating structure. In the case of the German battleship Bismarck , the turrets were not vertically restrained and fell out when she sank. The British battlecruiser Hood , like some American battleships, did have vertical restraints. Below the gunhouse there may be a working chamber, where ammunition

1260-550: The Nebelwurfgerät was no longer mounted after June 1943 and this device was eventually supplanted by the Nahverteidigungswaffe . This article relating to artillery is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This military vehicle article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Gun turret Rotating gun turrets protect the weapon and its crew as they rotate. When this meaning of

1330-849: The Servian Walls (4th century BC) and the Aurelian Walls (3rd century AD) featured square ones. The Chinese used towers as integrated elements of the Great Wall of China in 210 BC during the Qin dynasty . Towers were also an important element of castles . Other well known towers include the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Pisa, Italy built from 1173 until 1372, the Two Towers in Bologna, Italy built from 1109 until 1119 and

1400-504: The Towers of Pavia (25 survive), built between 11th and 13th century. The Himalayan Towers are stone towers located chiefly in Tibet built approximately 14th to 15th century. Up to a certain height, a tower can be made with the supporting structure with parallel sides. However, above a certain height, the compressive load of the material is exceeded, and the tower will fail. This can be avoided if

1470-753: The United Kingdom , tall domestic buildings are referred to as tower blocks . In the United States , the original World Trade Center had the nickname the Twin Towers, a name shared with the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur . In addition some of the structures listed below do not follow the strict criteria used at List of tallest towers . The tower throughout history has provided its users with an advantage in surveying defensive positions and obtaining

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1540-768: The United States Army Air Corps , almost simultaneously with the RAF's Overstrand biplane bomber design. The Martin XB-10 prototype aircraft first featured the nose turret in June 1932—roughly a year before the less advanced Overstrand airframe design—and was first produced as the YB-10 service test version by November 1933. The production B-10B version started service with the USAAC in July 1935. In time

1610-663: The broch structures in northern Scotland , which are conical tower houses . These and other examples from Phoenician and Roman cultures emphasised the use of a tower in fortification and sentinel roles. For example, the name of the Moroccan city of Mogador , founded in the first millennium BC, is derived from the Phoenician word for watchtower ('migdol'). The Romans utilised octagonal towers as elements of Diocletian's Palace in Croatia , which monument dates to approximately 300 AD, while

1680-488: The radio alphabet was used on naming the turrets (e.g. "Anton", "Bruno" or "Berta", "Caesar", "Dora") as on the German battleship Bismarck . In the United States Navy , main battery turrets are numbered fore to aft . Secondary gun mounts are numbered by gun muzzle diameter in inches followed by a second digit indicating the position of the mount, with the second digit increasing fore to aft. Gun mounts not on

1750-611: The "Q" turret amidships in favour of heavier guns in fewer mountings. Like pre-dreadnoughts , the first dreadnoughts had two guns in each turret; however, later ships began to be fitted with triple turrets. The first ship to be built with triple turrets was the Italian Dante Alighieri , although the first to be actually commissioned was the Austro-Hungarian SMS ; Viribus Unitis of the Tegetthoff class . By

1820-551: The Admiralty remained interested in turret ships and instructed its own designers to create better designs. Coles enlisted the support of Prince Albert , who wrote to the first Lord of the Admiralty, the Duke of Somerset, supporting the construction of a turret ship. In January 1862, the Admiralty agreed to construct a ship, HMS Prince Albert which had four turrets and a low freeboard, intended only for coastal defence. While Coles designed

1890-540: The Overstrand was fitted with an enclosed and powered nose turret , mounting a Lewis gun . Rotation was handled by pneumatic motors while elevation and depression of the gun used hydraulic rams. The pilot's cockpit was also enclosed but the dorsal (upper) and ventral (belly) gun positions remained open, though shielded. The Martin B-10 all-metal monocoque monoplane bomber introduced turret-mounted defensive armament within

1960-552: The Russian town of Taganrog in the Black Sea during the Siege of Taganrog . The Lady Nancy "proved a great success" and Coles patented his rotating turret design after the war. The British Admiralty ordered a prototype of Coles's patented design in 1859, which was installed in the ironclad floating battery, HMS Trusty , for trials in 1861, becoming the first warship to be fitted with

2030-684: The aim. Therefore, most early dreadnought battleships featured "all big gun" armaments of identical calibre, typically 11 or 12 inches (280 or 300 mm), some of which were mounted in wing turrets. This arrangement was not satisfactory, however, as the wing turrets not only had a reduced fire arc for broadsides, but also because the weight of the guns put great strain on the hull and it was increasingly difficult to properly armour them. Larger and later dreadnought battleships carried superimposed or superfiring turrets (i.e. one turret mounted higher than and firing over those in front of and below it). This allowed all turrets to train on either beam, and increased

2100-402: The animation). At the base of the turret sit handing rooms, where shell and propelling charges are passed from the shell room and magazine to the hoists. The handling equipment and hoists are complex arrangements of machinery that transport the shells and charges from the magazine into the base of the turret. Bearing in mind that shells can weigh around a 5 long tons (5.6 short tons; 5.1 t),

2170-490: The beginning of World War II , most battleships used triple or, occasionally, quadruple turrets, which reduced the total number of mountings and improved armour protection. However, quadruple turrets proved to be extremely complex to arrange, making them unwieldy in practice. The largest warship turrets were in World War II battleships where a heavily armoured enclosure protected the large gun crew during battle. The calibre of

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2240-544: The bombers; making beam, stern and rising attacks practicable. Although the idea had some merits in attacking unescorted bombers the weight and drag penalty of the turret (and gunner) put them at a disadvantage when Germany was able to escort its bombers with fighters from bases in Northern France. By this point British fighters were flying with eight machine guns which concentrated firepower for use in single fleeting attacks of fighters against bombers. Tower A tower

2310-546: The bridge and behind the "B" turret, thus having restricted training fore and aft. Secondary turrets were named "P" and "S" ( port and starboard ) and numbered from fore to aft, e.g. P1 being the forward port turret. There were exceptions; the battleship HMS Agincourt had the uniquely large number of seven turrets. These were numbered "1" to "7" but were unofficially nicknamed "Sunday", Monday", etc. through to "Saturday". In German use, turrets were generally named "A", "B", "C", "D", "E", going from bow to stern. Usually

2380-509: The bridge, and letters near the end of the alphabet (i.e., "X", "Y", etc.) were for turrets behind the bridge ship, "Y" being the rearmost. Mountings in the middle of the ship would be "P", "Q", "R", etc. Confusingly, the Dido -class cruisers had a "Q" and the Nelson -class battleships had an "X" turret in what would logically be "C" position; the latter being mounted at the main deck level in front of

2450-474: The centerline would be assigned odd numbers on the port side and even numbers on the starboard side. For example, "Mount 52" would be the forwardmost 5 inches (130 mm) gun mount on the starboard side of the ship. During World War I, air gunners initially operated guns that were mounted on pedestals or swivel mounts known as pintles . The latter evolved into the Scarff ring , a rotating ring mount which allowed

2520-573: The circular stone tower in walls of Neolithic Jericho (8000 BC). Some of the earliest towers were ziggurats , which existed in Sumerian architecture since the 4th millennium BC. The most famous ziggurats include the Sumerian Ziggurat of Ur , built in the 3rd millennium BC, and the Etemenanki , one of the most famous examples of Babylonian architecture . Some of the earliest surviving examples are

2590-666: The early 20th century, these hoods were known as turrets. Modern warships have gun-mountings described as turrets, though the "protection" on them is limited to protection from the weather. Rotating turrets can be mounted on a fortified building or structure such as a coastal blockhouse, be part of a land battery , be mounted on a combat vehicle , a naval ship , or a military aircraft , they may be armed with one or more machine guns , automatic cannons , large- calibre guns, or missile launchers . They may be manned or remotely controlled and are most often protected to some degree, if not actually armoured . The protection provided by

2660-415: The earth such as a drilling tower . Ski-jump ramps use the same idea, and in the absence of a natural mountain slope or hill, can be human-made. In history, simple towers like lighthouses , bell towers , clock towers , signal towers and minarets were used to communicate information over greater distances. In more recent years, radio masts and cell phone towers facilitate communication by expanding

2730-577: The firepower of those guns unable to engage an enemy because they sited on the wrong beam into a more powerful, and more versatile unified battery. Designs for a rotating gun turret date back to the late 18th century. In the mid-19th century, during the Crimean War , Captain Cowper Phipps Coles constructed a raft with guns protected by a 'cupola' and used the raft, named the Lady Nancy , to shell

2800-589: The first seagoing warship to carry her guns in turrets. Laid down in 1866 and completed in June 1869, it carried two turrets, although the inclusion of a forecastle and poop prevented the turret guns firing fore and aft. The gun turret was independently invented in the United States by the Swedish inventor John Ericsson , although his design was technologically inferior to Coles's version. Ericsson designed USS  Monitor in 1861, its most prominent feature being

2870-597: The gap and jammed the turrets during the First Battle of Charleston Harbor in April 1863. Direct hits at the turret with heavy shot also had the potential to bend the spindle, which could also jam the turret. Monitor was originally intended to mount a pair of 15-inch (380 mm) smoothbore Dahlgren guns , but they were not ready in time and 11-inch (280 mm) guns were substituted, each gun weighing approximately 16,000 pounds (7,300 kg). Monitor ' s guns used

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2940-594: The gun to be turned to any direction with the gunner remaining directly behind it, the weapon held in an intermediate elevation by bungee cord , a simple and effective mounting for single weapons such as the Lewis Gun though less handy when twin mounted as with the British Bristol F.2 Fighter and German "CL"-class two-seaters such as the Halberstadt and Hannover -designed series of compact two-seat combat aircraft. In

3010-688: The heaviest armament: four 0.303 in (7.7 mm) Browning machine guns or, late in the war, two AN/M2 light-barrel versions of the US Browning M2 machine gun as in the Rose-Rice turret . The tail gunner or "Tail End Charlie" position was generally accepted to be the most dangerous assignment. During the war, British turrets were largely self-contained units, manufactured by Boulton Paul Aircraft and Nash & Thompson . The same model of turret might be fitted to several different aircraft types. Some models included gun-laying radar that could lead

3080-427: The hoists have to be powerful and rapid; a 15 inches (380 mm) turret of the type in the animation was expected to perform a complete loading and firing cycle in a minute. The loading system is fitted with a series of mechanical interlocks that ensure that there is never an open path from the gunhouse to the magazine down which an explosive flash might pass. Flash-tight doors and scuttles open and close to allow

3150-410: The late 19th century up until the 1910s. In pre-dreadnought battleships, the wing turret contributed to the secondary battery of sub-calibre weapons. In large armoured cruisers , wing turrets contributed to the main battery, although the casemate mounting was more common. At the time, large numbers of smaller calibre guns contributing to the broadside were thought to be of great value in demolishing

3220-489: The main armament on large battleships was typically 300 to 460 mm (12 to 18 in). The turrets carrying three 460 mm (18 in) guns of Yamato each weighed around 2,500 t (2,500 long tons; 2,800 short tons). The secondary armament of battleships (or the primary armament of light cruisers ) was typically between 127 and 152 mm (5.0 and 6.0 in). Smaller ships typically mounted guns of 76 mm (3.0 in) and larger, although these rarely required

3290-674: The middle and lower tubes were set on a progressively lower elevation but increasing angle. Six smoke grenades were carried, one in each launcher tube. They were ejected out of each tube by Zündschraube C 23 primer which was electrically fired from six push-buttons labeled Nebelkerzen , these buttons being grouped in two sets of three, located in the turret to the left and right of the commander's position and forward of his cupola . No spare smoke grenades, primers or launcher tubes were carried. Starting in August 1942, Wegmann prepared turrets for installation by welding mounting brackets to

3360-603: The much faster firing 8-inch to shoot during the long reload time necessary for 12-inch guns by superposing secondary gun turrets directly on top of the primary turrets (as in the Kearsarge and Virginia -class battleships), but the idea proved to be practically unworkable and was soon abandoned. With the advent of the South Carolina -class battleships in 1908, the main battery turrets were designed so as to superfire , to improve fire arcs on centerline mounted weapons. This

3430-522: The number of turrets carried and the number of guns mounted increased. RAF heavy bombers of World War II such as the Handley Page Halifax (until its Mk II Series I (Special) version omitted the nose turret), Short Stirling and Avro Lancaster typically had three powered turrets: rear, mid-upper and nose. (Early in the war, some British heavy bombers also featured a retractable, remotely-operated ventral /mid-under turret). The rear turret mounted

3500-485: The passage between areas of the turret. Generally, with large-calibre guns, powered or assisted ramming is required to force the heavy shell and charge into the breech . As the hoist and breech must be aligned for ramming to occur, there is generally a restricted range of elevations at which the guns can be loaded; the guns return to the loading elevation, are loaded, then return to the target elevation, at which time they are said to be "in battery". The animation illustrates

3570-650: The range of the transmitter. The CN Tower in Toronto, Ontario , Canada was built as a communications tower, with the capability to act as both a transmitter and repeater. Towers can also be used to support bridges, and can reach heights that rival some of the tallest buildings above-water. Their use is most prevalent in suspension bridges and cable-stayed bridges . The use of the pylon, a simple tower structure, has also helped to build railroad bridges, mass-transit systems, and harbors. Control towers are used to give visibility to help direct aviation traffic. The term "tower"

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3640-420: The ship was to present the smallest possible target to enemy gunfire. The turret's rounded shape helped to deflect cannon shot. A pair of donkey engines rotated the turret through a set of gears; a full rotation was made in 22.5 seconds during testing on 9 February 1862. However, fine control of the turret proved to be difficult, as it would have to be reversed if it overshot its mark. In lieu of reversing

3710-423: The ship, often mounted in casemates . Firepower was provided by a large number of guns, each of which could traverse only in a limited arc. Due to stability issues, fewer large (and thus heavy) guns can be carried high on a ship, but as this set casemates low and thus near the waterline they were vulnerable to flooding, effectively restricted their use to calm seas. Additionally casemate mounts had to be recessed into

3780-523: The side of a vessel to afford a wide arc of fire, and such recesses presented shot traps , compromising the integrity of armour plating. Rotating turrets were weapon mounts designed to protect the crew and mechanism of the artillery piece and with the capability of being aimed and fired over a broad arc, typically between a three-quarter circle up to a full 360 degrees. These presented the opportunity to concentrate firepower in fewer, better-sited positions by eliminating redundancy, in other words combining

3850-485: The standard propellant charge of 15 pounds (6.8 kg) specified by the 1860 ordnance instructions for targets "distant", "near", and "ordinary", established by the gun's designer Dahlgren himself. They could fire a 136-pound (61.7 kg) round shot or shell up to a range of 3,650 yards (3,340 m) at an elevation of +15°. HMS  Thunderer (1872) represented the culmination of this pioneering work. An ironclad turret ship designed by Edward James Reed , she

3920-511: The strain on the hull would have been too great. Many modern surface warships have mountings for larger calibre guns, although the calibres are now generally between 3 and 5 inches (76 and 127 mm) for use against both air and surface targets . The gunhouses are often just weatherproof covers for the gun mounting equipment and are made of light un-armoured materials such as glass-reinforced plastic . Modern turrets are often automatic in their operation, with no humans working inside them and only

3990-577: The target and compensate for bullet drop . As almost a 1930s "updated" adaptation of the First World War Bristol F.2b concept, the UK introduced the concept of the "turret fighter", with aeroplanes such as the Boulton Paul Defiant and Blackburn Roc where the armament was four (0.303 in (7.7 mm)) machine-guns was in a turret mounted behind the pilot, rather than in fixed positions in

4060-485: The tower's support structure tapers up the building. A second limit is that of buckling—the structure requires sufficient stiffness to avoid breaking under the loads it faces, especially those due to winds. Many very tall towers have their support structures at the periphery of the building, which greatly increases the overall stiffness. A third limit is dynamic; a tower is subject to varying winds, vortex shedding, seismic disturbances etc. These are often dealt with through

4130-456: The turret from sliding sideways. When not in use, the turret rested on a brass ring on the deck that was intended to form a watertight seal. However, in service, the interface between the turret and deck ring heavily leaked, despite caulking by the crew. The gap between the turret and the deck proved to be another kind of problem for several Passaic -class monitors , which used the same turret design, as debris and shell fragments entered

4200-482: The turret may be against battle damage, the weather conditions, general environment in which the weapon or its crew will be operating. The name derives from the pre-existing noun turret , from the French "touret", diminutive of the word "tower", meaning a self-contained protective position which is situated on top of a fortification or defensive wall as opposed to rising directly from the ground, in which case it constitutes

4270-539: The turret sides and drilling holes for the wiring so that the troops could mount the device by themselves. Complete Nebelwurfgerät were mounted by the assembly plants starting in October 1942. During a reported action in February 1943, enemy small arms fire had inadvertently set off the smoke grenades inside their launcher tubes resulting in the temporary blinding and incapacitation of the tank crew. Because of this hazard ,

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4340-413: The turret, a full rotation would have to be made to train the guns where desired. Including the guns, the turret weighed approximately 160 long tons (179 short tons; 163 t); the entire weight rested on an iron spindle that had to be jacked up using a wedge before the turret was free to rotate. The spindle was 9 inches (23 cm) in diameter which gave it ten times the strength needed in preventing

4410-589: The turrets, the ship was the responsibility of Chief Constructor Isaac Watts . Another ship using Coles' turret designs, HMS  Royal Sovereign , was completed in August 1864. Its existing broadside guns were replaced with four turrets on a flat deck and the ship was fitted with 5.5 inches (140 mm) of armour in a belt around the waterline. Early ships like the Royal Sovereign had little sea-keeping qualities being limited to coastal waters. Sir Edward James Reed , went on to design and build HMS Monarch ,

4480-461: The weight of fire forward and aft. The superfiring or superimposed arrangement had not been proven until after South Carolina went to sea, and it was initially feared that the weakness of the previous Virginia -class ship's stacked turrets would repeat itself. Larger and later guns (such as the US Navy's ultimate big gun design, the 16"/50 Mark 7 |16-inch) also could not be shipped in wing turrets, as

4550-526: The wing turrets could fire fore and aft, so this somewhat reduced the danger when an opponent crossed the T enabling it to fire a full broadside. Attempts were made to mount turrets en echelon so that they could fire on either beam, such as the Invincible -class and SMS  Von der Tann battlecruisers , but this tended to cause great damage to the ships' deck from the muzzle blast. Wing turrets were commonplace on capital ships and cruisers during

4620-489: The wings. The Defiant and Roc possessed no fixed, forward-firing guns; the Bristol F.2 was designed with one synchronized Vickers machine gun firing forward on a fuselage mount. The concept came at a time when the standard armament of a fighter was only two machine guns and in the face of heavily armed bombers operating in formation, it was thought that a group of turret fighters would be able to concentrate their fire flexibly on

4690-415: The word "turret" started being used at the beginning of the 1860s, turrets were normally cylindrical. Barbettes were an alternative to turrets; with a barbette the protection was fixed, and the weapon and crew were on a rotating platform inside the barbette. In the 1890s, armoured hoods (also known as "gun houses") were added to barbettes; these rotated with the platform (hence the term "hooded barbette"). By

4760-445: Was equipped with revolving turrets that used pioneering hydraulic turret machinery to maneouvre the guns. She was also the world's first mastless battleship , built with a central superstructure layout, and became the prototype for all subsequent warships. With her sister HMS  Devastation of 1871 she was another pivotal design, and led directly to the modern battleship. The US Navy tried to save weight and deck space, and allow

4830-483: Was necessitated by a need to move all main battery turrets to the vessel's centerline for improved structural support. The 1906 HMS  Dreadnought , while revolutionary in many other ways, had retained wing turrets due to concerns about muzzle blast affecting the sighting mechanisms of a turret below. A similar advancement was in the Kongō -class battlecruisers and Queen Elizabeth -class battleships, which dispensed with

4900-473: Was the Boulton & Paul Overstrand twin-engined biplane, which first flew in 1933. The Overstrand was similar to its First World War predecessors in that it had open cockpits and hand-operated machine guns. However, unlike its predecessors, the Overstrand could fly at 140 mph (230 km/h) making operating the exposed gun positions difficult, particularly in the aircraft's nose. To overcome this problem,

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