Australian Army Museum of Western Australia > Records

Virtual Discovery #17 - Depression Range Finder

Overview

Part of a series of “Virtual Discovery” presentations featuring the military heritage of Rottnest island produced in parallel with Virtual Visit posts relating to the Australian Army Museum of Western Australia. This “Virtual Discovery” focuses on the Depression Rangefinder, ancoast artillery sighting system which provided target bearing and range.

Historical information

In Coast Artillery, he depression range finder (DRF) is a precision fire control device used to observe the target's range and bearing in order to calculate firing solutions. It was the main component of a vertical base range finding system. It was necessitated by the introduction of rifled artillery from the mid-19th century onwards, which had much greater ranges than the old smoothbore weapons and were consequently more difficult to aim accurately. The DRF was invented by Captain HSS Watkin of the Royal Artilleryin the 1870s and was adopted in 1881. It could provide both range and bearing information on a target.

Details

Details

Registration number
cwa-org-32-54-793
Contextual Information

The Rottnest Island was closed to the public for extended periods during the COVID-19 pandemic beginning in March 2020. The success of “Virtual Visi” series at the Australian Army Museum of Western Australia prompted the creation of a parallel series of “Virtual Discoveries” focussing on the military and heritage aspects of Rottnest island.

Australian Army Museum of Western Australia

Australian Army Museum of Western Australia

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/sites/default/files/2024-07/Her_117-DEPRESSION-RANGE-FINDER-P.pdf
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