Strategy Page, May 15, 2012

choi

(1) The Precision Revolution.  
http://strategypage.com/htmw/htweap/articles/20120515.aspx

Quote:

"Better training, and high tech sights, made the US troops very accurate. This led to wider use of snipers

"At the same time, massed artillery fire is now a thing of the past. Many artillery battalions have been disbanded. U.S. artillery units now use a lot fewer precision shells and rockets.
Note:
(a) nitrocellulose
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrocellulose
(a highly flammable compound formed by nitrating cellulose[, structural component of plants' cell wall] through exposure to nitric acid or another powerful nitrating agent; Henri Braconnot [1780-1855; French] discovered in 1832 that nitric acid, when combined with starch or wood fibers, would produce a lightweight combustible explosive material)
(b) Joint Direct Attack Munition
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Direct_Attack_Munition
(JDAM; a guidance kit that converts unguided bombs, or "dumb bombs" into all-weather "smart" munitions)
(c) For MLRS (which stands for Multiple Launch Rocket System), see multiple rocket launcher
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_rocket_launcher
(d) M982 Excalibur
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M982_Excalibur
(developed by Raytheon Missile Systems and [Swedish] BAE Systems Bofors; a precise GPS-guided munition capable of being used in close support situations within 150 metres (490 ft) of friendly troops; As of 2008[update] unit cost was US$85,000, potentially dropping to US$50,000 in full-scale production; Initial combat experience with Excalibur in Iraq in the summer of 2007 was highly successful, with 92% of rounds falling within 4 metres (13 ft) of the target)


(2) Taming Turbine Appetites
http://strategypage.com/htmw/htlog/articles/20120515.aspx
("by upgrading the control system [with new digital control] on the LM2500 gas turbine engines it can reduce fuel use 16 percent")

Note:
(a) General Electric LM2500
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Electric_LM2500
(First run  1960s)

At the end of the text is a section "External links," pointing to GE's official site, which is too technical--thus not helpful to a layperson like me.  
(b) I'm an engineer. I help to design very large and expensive machines. Halfpad.com, undated.
http://www.myuntoldsecrets.com/V ... ets&item_id=284
("This is actually a GE LM2500 gas turbine engine. LM stand for land and marine")
(c) General Electric TF39
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Electric_TF39
(Developed to power the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy[, a military transport aircraft], it was the first high-power, high-bypass jet engine available; First run  1964)

(3) What New Technologies Changed Naval Warfare in the 20th Century.
http://strategypage.com/htmw/htmurph/articles/20120515.aspx

Note:
(a) For Gyroscopic compass, see gyrocompass
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyrocompass
(a type of non-magnetic compass; Although one important components of a gyrocompass is a gyroscope, these are not the same devices; Gyrocompasses are widely used for navigation on ships, because they have two significant advantages over magnetic compasses)
(b) Regarding "small tube steam plants."
(i) Introductory Essay. Big Bad Battleships: The Boiler Room, undated.
http://www.cityofart.net/bship/boiler_menu.html
("Our period of study -- the 1860s through 1914 -- corresponds with technological growth and breakthroughs in the field of steam plant and engineering. For instance, the era saw the introduction of progressively higher-performance boilers and engines, ranging from the 30 psi rectangular fire-tube boilers common in the 1870s through the cylindrical or Scotch boiler good for 200 or more psi by around 1900, on through the early water-tube boilers -- Bellevilles and Babcocks -- to the three-drum models, the Yarrows and Thornycrofts, and their small-tube variants. And starting in the first years of the twentieth century, fireroom technology evolved from coal to oil firing, saving untold labor and greatly reducing the dirt and grit of navy life")
(ii) Boiler (power generation)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiler_(power_generation)
(A boiler or steam generator is a device used to create steam by applying heat energy to water; Boiler types: fire-tube boiler, multi-tube boilers [including Scotch marine boiler])
(iii) Scotch marine boiler
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotch_marine_boiler
(a fire-tube boiler)

Quote:

"It [Scotch] differs from the Lancashire in two aspects: a large number of small diameter tubes (typically 3 or 4 inches diameter each) are used to increase the ratio of heating area to cross-section. Secondly the overall length of the boiler is halved by folding the gas path back on itself.

"The Scotch marine boiler achieved near-universal use throughout the heyday of steam propulsion [including Titanic] It lasted from the end of the low-pressure haystack boilers in the mid-19th century through to the early 20th century and the advent of steam turbines with high-pressure water-tube boilers such as the Yarrow.

(iv) Navy Boilers. The Quarterly Review (William Clowns and Sons), vol 193, at page 408 (1901)
http://books.google.com/books?id ... nepage&q=scotch boiler inventor&f=false
("These were, and are still, called 'Scotch' boilers, because the type was first introduced on the Clyde")
(v) River Clyde
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Clyde
(Flowing through the major city of Glasgow, it was an important river for shipbuilding and trade in the British Empire)
(vi) "Clyde is Scots-Gaelige for: Heard from afar. The river Clyde means a loud river heard from a distance."

(c) ServRon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ServRon
(d) scuba diving
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scuba_diving
(The first commercially successful scuba sets were the Aqualung developed by Emile Gagnan and Jacques-Yves Cousteau[, two French in Paris in the 1942-1943 winter]; section 2 Etymology)