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A plotting board was a mechanical device used by the U.S. Army Coast Artillery Corps as part of their fire control system to track the observed course of a target (typically a moving ship), project its future position, and derive the uncorrected data[note 1] on azimuth (or direction) and range needed to direct the fire of the guns of a battery to hit that target. Plotting boards of this sort were first employed by the Coast Artillery[note 2] around 1905, and were the primary means of calculating firing data until WW2. Towards the end of WW2 these boards were largely replaced by radar and electro-mechanical gun data computers, and were relegated to a back-up role.
Although several different types of plotting boards were used by the Coast Artillery over the years, the example described here is the Whistler-Hearn Plotting Board, Model of 1904 which was widely employed by the Coast Artillery between about 1905 and 1925.[note 3][1] This description is primarily derived from two manuals of the period, each of which leaves certain aspects of the board's design and use unexplained.[2][3] A 1940 manual also describes the Whistler-Hearn board.[4]
Cite error: There are <ref group=note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=note}} template (see the help page).
^Berhow 2015, pp. 291–294.
^Hines, Frank T.; Ward, Franklin W. (1910). The Service of Coast Artillery. New York: Goodenough & Woglom Co. pp. 315–323.
^"Training Manual No. 1669: Description of the Whistler-Hearn Plotting Board (Model of 1904), Mortar Plotting Board (Model of 1906 and Model of 1906 MI), and Submarine Plotting Board (Model of 1906) and Instructions for Assembling, Adjusting, Caring the, Etc.," Ordnance Department, U.S. Army, Government Printing Office, Washington, April 24, 1907, Revised December 13, 1909.
^FM 4-15, Seacoast Artillery fire control and position finding, p. 84 ff.
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