The Admiralty tables listed nearest standard: copper cable. Installing that solved the tripping. Gibbs noted: “Always account for temperature rise — use 0.0204 Ω·mm²/m at 45°C for safety.” Example 2: Short-Circuit Calculation for a Searchlight A 3 kW searchlight (110 V) suddenly failed. A cable chafed against a bulkhead, causing a dead short. Gibbs needed to prove the protective fuse was correct.
Checking the fuse’s time-current curve (Admiralty Handbook, Plate 12), a 40 A fuse would clear 1285 A in ~0.01 seconds — safe. But the mechanical switch arced badly. Gibbs recommended adding a high-speed circuit breaker. Post-war, HMS Vigilant got new radar. The induction motor load (radar rotating aerial) had a power factor of 0.65 lagging . Apparent power S = 8 kVA, true power P = 5.2 kW. The generator ran hot. examples in electrical calculations by admiralty pdf
Load current: (I = P/V = 3000/110 \approx 27.3\ \text{A}). The fuse was rated 40 A — fine for overload. But for short-circuit, the prospective fault current matters. The Admiralty tables listed nearest standard: copper cable
From the Admiralty tables, he knew copper’s resistivity at 20°C: (or 0.0175 Ω·mm²/m). The manual demanded voltage drop not exceed 3% for power circuits. A cable chafed against a bulkhead, causing a dead short