Camden Fort Meagher 1887-1905 

Unreal.

Hello there I watch your videos

@@Kriegloaf itoo

The depth mechanism was top secret, and to this day no one really knows how it worked. The X-ray shots I ,have seen are inconclusive

A bit late, but at least US ICBM silos actually require 4 keys to consent for a launch. Same as on US SSBN boats which also require 4 keys for to launch. Can't say for certain about other countries.

@@vbbsmyt oh I thought those were batteries at first, lol

@@Melanie16040 Land silos need two IIRC, at least in the Titan days.

@@TheEmeraldMenOfficial They require 4. You're thinking of a single LCC with the two person crew each turning one key. Thing is that's not everything that has to happen to consent to a launch. Each LCC commands 10 missiles and there's a total of 5 LCC's per squadron. A second LCC is also needed to consent to the launch, so keys 3 and 4.

These torpedo stations were hidden in cliffs or forts. When there was a high risk, the boilers would be lit but damped down, so ,could probably be ready at 10 mins notice. From cold probably 30-40 mins, but attacking ships could only make 12-15 knots in 1900

In tests on the Thames, the Brennan torpedo was found to be effective. Towed barges were used as targets.

In a way... though all this technology is actually replaced by modern _guidance_ systems more then propulsion. The real brilliance of the brennen torpedo is that it can be remote controlled by varying the tug rate between the two wires, which turned a differential between the spools, which turned the rudder. An operator would direct the torpedo to the ship from a watch tower. Compact tube -launched torpedos already existed at the time, but they were unguided and would remain unguided for many decades to come. So yes, the advance of technology is enormous. An entire hillside of equipment eventually replaced by a few microphones and a microchip that could all be stuffed in a duffle bag!

@@cerebralm a microship that fits in a duffel bag - clearly you're talking about the Russian one! :) on a plus side, it can be powered with mains power or diesel fuel or a few strong words, and cooled with vodka. But seriously, modern torpedo autonomous guidance systems are far from perfect if the target is a modern sub.

@@AlexKarasev I was referring to the whole guidance package, and my only reference is very old blueprints of the first autonomous passive-sonar guided torpedos. I'm sure it's all been a lot more miniaturized since then. My point was just that modern guidance systems are much more advanced then a guy watching the target from a tower on land and adjusting a setting on a steam engine.

@@cerebralm I understand & was kidding. Advanced - I don't have any torpedo stats (enemy hit vs self/friendly hit vs miss). Little birdie is telling me those stats, to the extent they exist, are worse than ugly. And soon all sides will be adding AI to the mix, affected by hacking or malicious code insertion at fabrication time. So I wouldn't be so quick dismissing the guy watching the target.

@@AlexKarasev Of course, if you're shooting at something you can see, and your enemy can't see and attack the spotter. If you want to attack over the horizon or long distances underwater, the use of technology is non-negotiable. And it helps to keep spotters out of harm's way. The earliest systems were awful, I understand a lot of early torpedos had a nasty habit of getting stuck at a constant cornering rate... which of course brought them around a big circle to kill the very vessel that launched them. But there are a lot of situations where you have no choice but to trust sensor systems since humans simply don't have the senses to detect what's going on.

I was wondering the same thing. I think pulling the wire causes the spool to turn. Given an appropriate gearing to drive the prop, I guess the propulsion would be enough to overcome the backwards pull of the wire. Seems kind of ineffecient, but i guess it was the best that the technology of the time had to offer. Still trying to figure out the guidance though.

@@MarkDHastingsMusic Guidance comes from reeling in two wires at different speeds. Considering the primary power source was steam engine at the time, the design was genius! Also the station is controlling a narrow straight, the range requirement is low.

Victorian era? Yes. Baroque? no.

It's Baroque? Why? did you bareak it?

@Cw Sayre Baroque Hussein Obama😏😏😏

Place is in bits down there, Very little of the actual Machinery there

Dhimas: Absolutely. In 1887, the Brennan was faster, carried a larger warhead and had greater range than the automotive 'fish' torpedoes of the time. Plus you could steer it to intercept an evading target. However, improvements in torpedo design soon outclassed it. Rob

They had torpedo launchers not dissimilar to those found on naval destroyers at the time, which means that the loading process was much simpler. These torpedoes were also probably either oxygen or battery powered, making them a bit simpler than the torpedo shown in this video.

@@abercrombieblovs2042 It would still be interesting. Few people know that land-based torpedo launchers even existed. I surely didn't until I read about the Battle of Drobak for the first time.

The British were very secretive about the Brennan. The actual mechanism that controlled depth was a closely guarded secret (and today no-one knows exactly how it worked). The Torpedo stations were hidden in cliffs or forts, so it is likely that enemy’s had little knowledge of Brennan defences. Yes, the spray from the steering mast could be seen by the target, but they would only have a couple of minutes to spot the spray, report it to the bridge, decide it was a threat and then try to evade. But the torpedo could be steered to counter any course changes. There were a few earlier prototype torpedo designs that could be steered, but the Brennan WAS the first operational guided weapon (with over 20 years of service).

The only surviving Brennan is still in the RE Museum in Chatham. Actually, the Brennan was introduced to replace controlled minefields, since these took a long time to deploy in times of tension, and the electric cabling was expensive and tended to loose insulation. A Brennan station could be brought online online from cold in less than 30 minutes, but as shown in the animations, the Cornish boilers coud be lit then damped down so were available at very short notice. Plus you could fire Brenans for training and practice as often as you liked (they were reusable so long as a detonator was not fitted).

@@vbbsmyt You are of course correct! I knew the Brennen and the command minefields were connected, but got it the wrong way round.. senior moment! Brennan was a prolific inventor.. he designed a flywheel driven monorail system that was quite widely used on building sites as it would run on lengths of standard gas pipe! Glad to hear the Brennan is still at Chatham.. a lot of military museums have closed in recent times! I have been in the Brennan station at Lie Yue Mun Fort in Hong Kong. They have some reproduction torpedoes, but none of the original infrastructure remains apart from a few fixtures. I can see you are interested in mechanisms.. have you ever seen the books about Machine Gun design by George Chinn..? I have a set.. fantastic illustrations (much copied!)

*And then he clicked on the video description where it usually is to be found*

Bill Wilson that would be awesome

You need to send detailed blueprints of this gun to him then

JR. You will get a better explanation from my earlier video on the Brennan ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-XeyJbgrE8oc.html. Yes it was reliable, much more than other locomotive torpedoes of the time since the Brennan could be steered, while Whitehead-type torpedoes would often veer off course.

OK - propulsion: the wires are wound on drums in the torpedo which are connected to propellers. As the wires are pulled off, the drums rotate and power the torpedo forward. Search for vbbsmyt video on Brennan. Steering: in the torpedo the wires pass around pulley wheels connected to Brennan's secret steering mechanism, which is probably a differential gear box. Now if more wire is pulled from the left drum than the right the differential shaft rotates, so moving the rudder and torpedo alters course. In the shore engine room when the red and green pulley wheels move apart, the one going forwards pulls extra wire and the one moving back pulls less. Again, my Brennan torpedo video my help to show this. Rob

Good

this is 1890 not 1600

The Fort is not open at the moment. www.camdenfortmeagher.ie However, the Brennan Torpedo station, shown in the animation, is a complete wreck, and is not open to the public. You can explore the current station with this link: www.brennantorpedo.com/

Design is less of a problem than getting right idea.

Many, many, *many* layers of blueprints.

Gerry: If you want to fill a ship with air - use guns (or bombs). However, if you want to fill it with water - use torpedoes or mines, to misquote someone. In the late 19th Century, the entrances to military or strategic ports were protected by controlled minefields. These were mine laid at precise locations which could be command detonated when an enemy ship passed over, or contact mine fuzes could be activated by an electric current. The trouble was, defensive minefields took a long time to lay and the cable insulation at the time would not last very long underwater. So a torpedo station, with weapons easily maintained, controllable and ready for action at short notice were a significant advance. Shore batteries were useful but not as effective since the attackers would be armoured and would also be firing back. Sorry for previous response - I must be getting confused in my old age. Rob

Rear wire not needed, front only from mast to mechanism would do, increasing or decreasing tension on wire to control planes.

Brian, the mast is purely there to indicate where the torpedo is, so that the controller on shore can steer the torpedo to hit an evading target. In fact it reduces the speed by about 2 knots. The actual depth mechanism is a complete unknown, even after 130 years. Several ideas, but since the unit cannot be opened (and X-rays have been inconclusive) it may stay this way. Rob

@@vbbsmyt why can the unit not be opened? I presume there is a surviving one?

There is one remaining Brennan torpedo in the Royal Engineers museum, Chatham, Kent (UK). The Depth Unit is sealed, and the Royal Engineers, who operated the Brennan, promised never to to open it up. They have kept their promise for 130 years or more. However, it does not need to be opened - it was designed to be removable, so all that is necessary is to take it out, transport to a suitable organisation to X-ray it from all directions to get orthogonal views, and of course the RE Museum curators would have to agree and someone would have to pay for the x-rays.

@@vbbsmyt Would be lovely if they'd agree to such a thing, though I'm getting the impression that's somewhat less than likely...

Briseur: The clue is in the last scene. When torpedoes are fired for practice, they are recovered and hoisted onto a trolley on the wharf, and then wheeled through the right hand tunnel into the storage area. New torpedoes are embarked in the same way. Interestingly, as you cannot remove the warhead due to the linkages passing through, torpedoes fired for practise have the full 220 pounds of wet gun cotton in place - but not the detonator or primer/gain. Rob

There is a railway system that it shows in the beginning and the end of the video. It's for torpedo replenishment, am I right?

The wires are pulled by the winch in the fort, which spills the reels in the torpedo, which turn the propellers. Each wire/drum turns one propeller, spinning in opposite directions. The wires also turn the inputs to a differential gear, which outputs the difference in the inputs, which is connected to the rudders for steering. So by pulling one wire faster than the other, you can control the path of the torpedo.

No

It is the Depth unit - the mechanism that keeps the torpedo on depth. It was one of Brennan's Secrets, so secret that Depth Units were kept in a safe with 2 keys, held by different officers and only installed just before launching. To this day no-one knows how it worked. The X-rays that were made several years ago are of no real use.

My earlier video on Brennan may help ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-XeyJbgrE8oc.html

The Brennan was powered and steered by pulling wires from on-board drums. There was no gyro. Instead pulling more wire from one drum than the other operates a differential gear, causing it to rotate and so operate the rudder. I have a more detailed animation of the Brennan: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-sQJCOnyUvfU.html I hope this helps explain the device.

@@vbbsmyt ooooh

Yes, although it is ‘pull the left wire faster than the right wire” the differential gear in the torpedo detects the different wire speeds and turns the rudder. When both wires are being pulled at the same speed, the rudder is central. Remember this mechanical design is over 120 years old. No electrics, no computers.

@@vbbsmyt Fascinating! Thank you for taking the time to explain!

There was never a war against Britain while this system was operational. In testing, the Torpedoes could reportedly hit a floating fruit basket reliably at 2,000 yards. Since the torpedo could be steered, hitting moving and even maneuvering targets was pretty simple.

The torpedo can be steered by pulling one wire or the other at a different speed, which causes a differential gear to rotate the rudders. The controller on shore watches the spray from the torpedo mast and directs it to hit the target.

No, the French would not oblige!

Similar station was built in Hong Kong during same era . Same fate it didn't fight its intended enemy.

In 1940 the Norwegian torpedo fort sank a German heavy cruiser in Oslofjord.

@@DavidOfWhitehills Pretty sure that was a more modern torpedo and launcher.

@@abercrombieblovs2042 Nope, the torps dated from 1900. The Battle of Drobak Sound.

These are Brennan torpedoes, wire guided, not like Whitehead torpedoes, which were aimed and fired froma ship or submarine using calculations froma mechanical computer or a set of log tables.

@@michaelbevan3285 The Whitehead was also powered by a compressed air reciprocating engine.

It was the first successful guided torpedo. There were earlier attempts, such as the Lay torpedo, which proved to be impractical.

For a demonstration, the hulk 'Monarch' was towed past a fort and demolished by a Brennan, and one small fishing boat sunk during a practise firing (presumably by the mast). That was it.

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-sQJCOnyUvfU.html

@@vbbsmyt thanks a lot, sir!

Yes, there was a Brennan torpedo station in Hong Kong.

Watch my earlier video on the Brennan: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-XeyJbgrE8oc.html

@Lung Chen According to a booklet I have on these devices the Hong Kong version used hydraulic power (as in water hydraulics) to drive the propulsion/steering winches. This was apparently done because of the tropical climate, to remove the intense heat sources in the form of the steam generating gear, and also the hilly topography suited building an elevated reservoir to give an adequate hydraulic gradient. The launch stations were of course at near sea level.

It only needs to shoot one direction and it was faster than any combat ship in its day. It took about 2 minutes to reach its maximum range of around 2,000 yards. Plenty fast for the task.

No. Those were Whitehead torpedoes.