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28 NAVY NEWS, APRIL 1999 Options

BINOCULARS THAT GAVE 'A DEADLY ADVANTAGE

Glass in a class of its own A hundred years ago Carl Zeiss produced a pair of binoculars that has kept the German company's name as the benchmark of excellence ever since. But for nearly half a century a Glasgow firm matched them with their own Admiralty Pattern 1900A. William Reid traces the history of "the admirable Barr & Stroud 7X50".

RITAIN'S Defence Staff decided in 1979 that a single design of binocular field glass could meet the requirements of all three Services. This was a radical philosophical change after a century when the Army, the Navy and then the RAF had each demanded and been allowed to specify its own choice of patterns.

It was not entirely rational, for the new instrument was optimistically intended to meet the needs of observers in Army Air Corps helicopters and Nimrod surveillance aircraft, lookouts on board frigates and infantry engaged in border surveillance from a basha. The precursor of the modern binocular, a "double-barrelled" telescope, was made in the Low Countries in the early years of the 17th century, but as technical difficulties prevented its achieving pop-

ular acceptance the great majority of observations was made with a single telescope until the 1820s. The Viennese inventor Friedrich Voigtlander then made the first modern binocular field glass using a simple optical system that was little different from those that Galileo had improved for his astronomical observations two centuries earlier. The so-called "Galilean" or, more correctly, terrestrial binoculars of the 19th century had a relatively low magnification of only three or four times. They first came

into military use around the middle of the last century when individual British officers embarking for the Crimean War (1854-56) were equipping themselves with the new instrument that allowed them to use both eyes. For a time, Naval officers continued to prefer the single telescope which, as well as being a useful tool, has something of the wand of office about it, but it was not long before a Galilean binocular was introduced for Naval general service. The British Army handbook where it is first mentioned

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• AB Alfred Newall, HMS Suffolk, who first sighted Bismarck (inset) and Prinz Eugen on May 23, 1941. A Barr & Stroud CF41/AP1900A binocular fitted with ray-shades and eyepad is clamped on the bearing director. - IWM illustrates the Binocular, Night, Mark I, an instrument that is identical to an example that is marked on the leather cover of its barrels with the form of broad arrow that occurs exclusively on binoculars issued by the Admiralty. A hundred years ago, in the mid1890s, the innovative prismatic binocular designed and made by the great German firm of Carl Zeiss came on the British scene. As its optical system allowed a higher magnification in a more compact instrument and gave the enhanced stereoscopic vision that is so useful when judging distance and a target's rate of movement, it quickly supplanted the Galilean models for most serious purposes. The Royal Navy adopted as the Admiralty Pattern 343 a Britishmade version with a 6X30 specification. That is, its magnification was six times and the diameter of the lens furthest from the eye was 30mm. There were more than 11,000 in the Navy's storehouses when the guns fell silent in November 1918, the majority made during the war by Ross, Kershaw and other London and Leeds firms. In the course of the 'War to End All Wars' the Royal Navy learned that the Imperial German Navy introduced the 7X50 Service binocular in 1915 that was a noticeable improvement over the smaller 6X30 at dawn or dusk, and even at night.

prototype, identified by the company product code CF12. Before undergoing sea trials, it and binoculars by Ross, Zeiss and others were examined at the National Physical Laboratory and the Admiralty Research Laboratory, neighbours at Teddington just west of London. The Glasgow binocular came up trumps. In the words of a 1921 trial report the CF12 was "an exceptionally good glass".

or the next few years insignificant Admiralty orders did little more than keep the Barr & Stroud binocular workshop ticking over. But it remained in business, experimenting with new methods and materials, and was not forgotten by the authorities. The CF12 underwent many modifications, including the use of substantial quantities of Bakelite in its construction to reduce its weight, before it became the company's 7X50 CF41, which the Royal Navy adopted in 1935 as its Admiralty Pattern 1900A. When war broke out in September 1939 Barr & Stroud were firmly established as the Navy's principal supplier of handheld binoculars. No binocular collection can be considered complete without an example of the ubiquitous AP1900A. It should retain the features that make it unmistakable in appearance. The integral filters

that the user may introduce quickly to enhance contrast in dull light, or reduce it when looking towards bright sunshine or a searchlight's rays are always present. Some owners have removed the vents, like little tyre-valves on each prism box that allowed optical artificers to dry its internal surfaces with dessicating pumps. Many survivors have had the company's patent "ray-and-spray shades" removed as being heavy and rather clumsy. A clicker device that makes it possible to focus the AP1900A and adjust the distance between the eye-lenses in darkness is often too worn to use. Barr & Stroud's AP1900A served the Royal Navy well on all the oceans of the world. It even received a unique commendation following the 1941 night action off Cape Matapan, and a disinterested observer later described it as "probably the equal of the Zeiss at night". Before the war ended in 1945 HM ships had been provided with approximately 70,000 binoculars, 24,000 being made in 1944 alone. It remained in service until the Binocular Prismatic General Purpose, 7X42 L11A1 steamed over the horizon in 1979. Watchkeepers, Dusty Jacks and Optical Artificers who still remember the AP1900A do so with varying degrees of fondness, though. For, it must be confessed, it is not the easiest of instruments to ser-

his was a significant factor, for binoculars were continually in the hands of designated lookouts wherever and whenever action was remotely conceivable. It was obvious to Their Lordships of the Admiralty that when an engagement was imminent, the side that first spotted and identified the enemy had a potentially deadly advantage. The brighter and clearer the glass, the greater the benefit, and the Doppelwrnrohrvias better - by far. Within a few months of the Armistice the Admiralty declared its intention to improve the quality of its night glass and to standardise on a single model with minor variations according to its function. Britain's optical industry was invited to submit designs. Most of the competitors were old hands at supplying binoculars to the Services, but the Glasgow firm of Barr & Stroud were novices in the field. They had earned a high reputation as suppliers of excellent rangefinders to the armies and navies of the world for 30 years past, but their first range of binocular glasses for field, marine and theatre use was not launched until early in 1919.

• EYES OF THE FLEET: There were 11,000 AP343s (front) in the Navy's storehouses at the end of World War I. About 1930 they were replaced by Bar & Stroud's CF30, the AP1900 (rear).