Info about ww1 and ww2 naval technology?

Where can I find a good introduction to the development of naval weapon, navigation and other technology during the period 1918 to 1945? More specifically I seek answers to the following questions:
* AA weaponry apparently used time fuses for a very long time. How good were the gunners at setting the time fuse correctly? How many meters from the plane would the shells explode on average for a gunner of average skill at setting the time fuse? How far away would a very skilled gunner get on average?
* when was radar introduced to direct AA weaponry? Afaik it was some time during 1941 or 1942 that the US Navy starting using it in the Pacific to very great effect against Japanese fighters. When, more exactly, was it introduced? And different countries probably introduced it at different times. In which order did they introduce radar guided AA?
* can all naval shells of the period be classified as either HE or AP? Where there any other major shell types (besides smoke, that is)?
* what was the fuse mechanism of torpedoes at the time? Were there both time fuses and impact fuses?
* how deep below water would a normal torpedo go? I've heard that the Japanese Pearl Harbor torpedoes apparently went more shallow than normal - how shallow did they go, and how deep did the normal torpedoes go?
* how fast were the torpedoes?
* how far would a torpedo go before running out of fuel?
* how high explosive power would a naval mine have compared to a waterline hit from a shell?
* are there statistics on approximate averages on what it took to sink different ship classes during the period? How many shell hits? How many waterline shell hits? How many torpedoes/mines? How good would the hits of each type have to be? How well were planes (bombers, fighters, dive bombers, torpedo bombers and other) expected to fare against ships? When (I assume late ww1 but want more exact info) did planes start to be considered a real threat to ships (in other aspects than scouting and spotting)?
* how dense were normal minefields? (number of mines per square kilometer or some other measure)
* how were depth charges ejected? I've seen in games and movies that they were thrown out from destroyers to land in a circular pattern on the water surface before sinking. Was this used by both capital ships and destroyers? Also, were there time fuse mechanisms for depth charges just as with early AA shells, and if so, how long did it typically take for the crew to set the fuse time before ejecting the charges?
* how many depth charges would a typical ship of each class bring?
* how many torpedoes would a typical ship of each class bring?
* approximately how many AP and HE shells would a ship of each class have loaded on board before mission?
* what would be the average firing speed of the guns at different times during the period? How did firing and reloading speeds evolve during the period?
* what would be the average spread of the guns? I.e. at what distance would the gunners on a BB, in calm weather, be almost certain of hitting an enemy BB? At what distance would the accuracy drop to around just a few hits per hour? At what distance could only a few lucky hits from plunging fire be expected?
* when was radar introduced to guide directing shellfire? how much became automatically controlled and how much remained under the control of the gunners? reloading, aiming, firing etc.?
* were there other major technological aids for vision, firepower, fire directing, navigation etc. that ships of the period had besides what is mentioned above?
* what did the different technological aids, in your opinion, mean to the outcome of the world wars (and other naval conflicts during the period)?
* how often was spotting by planes (and zeppeliners) actually used in naval battles of the era? I've heard that plenty of BBs during ww2 had scout planes, but some sources claim they were used extensively for submarine hunting, so I don't know how often they were used for actual spotting in shell fights.

There is a naval sim called Fighting Steel which is IMO excellent, and on top of the original game there is a community of modders who have made umpteen updated versions with historically accurate stats and gameplay, so I would recommend you google Fighting Steel. In addition to info and links you could get off the modder's page, you could buy the game off Ebay and play it.

Check out War in the Pacific, a Matrix game. You won't find a more hardcore group of grognards that know their stuff about naval warfare anywhere than in their forum.

Well this page would be a good start on Japanese naval technology at the start of WWII.

http://www.combinedfleet.com/guns.htm

http://www.combinedfleet.com/torps.htm

Lots of weapons details here: http://www.navweaps.com/


CBR

Thanks!

hey Legio,
Is for that naval game you started some months back or have you given up on that?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Peasant Phill

hey Legio,
Is for that naval game

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yes that's the intended usage of the info, if I manage to finish it :shrug: