Coast Artillery fire control system
In the U.S. Army Coast Artillery Corps, the term fire control system was used to refer to the personnel, facilities, technology and procedures that were used to observe designated targets, estimate their positions, calculate firing data for guns directed to hit those targets, and assess the effectiveness of such fire, making corrections where necessary.
In this plotting room, the table is a Whistler-Hearn plotting board. A range correction board is on the left rear of the table.
A conceptual diagram of the flow of fire control data in the Coast Artillery (in 1940). The set forward point of the target was generated by using the plotting board (1). This position was then corrected for factors affecting range and azimuth (2). Finally, fire was adjusted for observations of the actual fall of the shells (3), and new firing data were sent to the guns.
A series of observed positions (blue circles) establishes the likely track of the target. Using a plotting board, the set forward point is determined, based upon the target's observed course and speed and an assumption about when the gun is to be fired.
This example shows the relationship of steps in the fire control process playing out over time.
United States Army Coast Artillery Corps
The U.S. Army Coast Artillery Corps (CAC) was an administrative corps responsible for coastal, harbor, and anti-aircraft defense of the United States and its possessions between 1901 and 1950. The CAC also operated heavy and railway artillery during World War I.
Practice loading of a 10-inch gun on a disappearing carriage at Fort Hamilton, Brooklyn, NY, a typical Endicott period installation.
Typical Endicott period battery with components labeled.
USAMP Major Samuel Ringgold, built in 1904, which planted practice groups of mines in the Columbia River during the 1920s. (National Archives and Records Administration)
US-manned 155mm GPF gun of Battery F, 55th Coast Artillery, France 1918
