Quote:
Originally Posted by UnderseaLcpl
I don't know for sure, but I'll posit a theory. Someone else may well have a better answer.
IIRC, the reason for ships to have an open bridge in the days of yore was, as you mentioned, visibility. The same goes for WW2 ships, and even some fairly modern ones.
Originally, the open bridge was a necessity because technology did not exist to permit the captain or the senior officer on the bridge to relay orders to other parts of the ship from more than one location. Even when the voice pipe came about, it was still not really practical to have two bridges. A voice pipe is just a tube to channel sound, and the more openings it has the less effective it is.
Another reason for the open bridge was to permit operation of the ship's compass, which would not function well within an iron or steel bridge enclosure.
My guess is that since many WW2 RN vessels were designed well before the start of WW2 it was either impractical to refit them with multiple bridges and additional control devices or they just weren't refitted at all. Britain was still reeling from the costs of WW1 then, as the compensation from Germany under the Versailles treaty amounted to very little. In short, they just didn't have the money to construct all manner of fancy ships, so they just went with the simplest solution on the smaller vessels.
To what extent this is true, I cannot say, but hopefully someone with more knowledge on the subject will have a more definitive answer.
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Good theory.
This may sound stupid, but one possible factor-weight savings.
Enclosed bridge means more steel plating for protection=more weight.
Also the added weight higher up may have made for some ungodly rolling in heavy seas with possibility of capsizing.
Just guessing. My knowledge of maritime engineering is lacking.
