From the Rolls-Royce experimental archive: a quarter of a million communications from Rolls-Royce, 1906 to 1960's. Documents from the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation (SHRMF).
Letter to the British Power Boat Co. Ltd. discussing Admiralty specifications for gun armour plate and mounting weights.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 175\3\ img148 | |
| Date | 11th September 1940 | |
| Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}5/ML. 11.9.40. G.S.Selman,Esq., British Power Boat Co.Ltd., HYTHE. Southampton. Dear Mr. Selman, We had the Admiralty people up here today to give us the final specification for the gun we are sending down to you next week. We explained your views on weight to them. They were not prepared to relinquish any armour plate and, in fact, asked us to increase the shielding rather than diminish it. I think you will have about 300 lbs. of armour plate on the gun by the time you have finished. How much of this remains on future guns, depends upon the service trials. Personally, I feel that with the large windage area of the armour plate, the gun will be very difficult to handle at speed, and this may ultimately cause them to modify their views. They were somewhat more responsive with regard to the weight of the mounting itself, and, though they have asked us to supply the first gun with the Oerlikon mounting, which weighs over a thousand pounds, they have agreed that our second gun can have our lightened type of mounting. One reason for this is that they have never yet seen our lightened type of mounting; another is that the design for the armour plate on the - Continued - | ||