Nautical Bygones

Description

Very Rare WWII Original Royal Navy Mercer 8 Day Brass Ships Convoy ZIGZAG Working Clock with Key
OCTO Mercer St. Albans England
Overall diameter 9.5" bevelled glass 6.5" 4" deep
With Original External Electrical Contacts

Bevelled Glass

Working with key

Great original piece. No major damage, bevelled glass intact, a few dints and marks commensurate with age.

Named zig zag as ships in a convoy were continually zig-zagging in close formation, leaving little room for intrusion. Besides their artillery, bomb-throwers and depth charges, they also had a well-armed naval escort. Clearly a submarine could not approach closely on the surface, and when she dived her speed was limited. The convoy’s zig-zag pattern was also continually changing, so that it was almost hopeless to judge where the ships would be when she put up her periscope again. They might be heading right away from her, in which case an attack was hopeless.

On the bridge was a zig-zag clock. It had a rim around its face and moveable contacts. The clock would be wound up and started when the Commodore ship lowered the flag indicating the start of the zigzag. The ships would all lower their flags and alter course to the first leg. The clock would then be started and when it reached 10 minutes it would sound a buzzer and the 2nd course would be instigated. The zigzag repeated itself each hour until another flag signal would be raised by the Commodore ship indicating a resumption of course and this would be done on the lowering of the flag.

As you could imagine, time had to be allowed for the ships to work out the relevant courses and as most would have magnetic compasses it called for some quick maths.
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