Not having a ton of references on this, I pose a question; on several photos of ships from both sides, there appear several long, diagonally-mounted 'poles' or somesuch structures mounted on the upper hulls (freeboard) on some ships. These appear on Dreadnaught-class ships and her contemporaries. What are their purpose? Just curious...
Frank Kranick
If by several you mean many in a row, you're probably looking at the torpedo net booms. They swing out from the side of the ship to dip a steel net (think chain mail) into the water to catch torpedoes before they hit the hull. Believe it or not, it was intended that the ships could actually move with them deployed (at a blistering 5 knots or so.)
- Sean F.
"Military History" just ran a story on HMS Dreadnought and there was an accompanying photo with just those booms identified.
Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.
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