Analog mechanical computers (of which this is a basic example) were the norm in the first half of the 20th century. Elaborate versions were used to obtain firing solutions for the big guns on naval warships:
https://www.google.com/search?q=uss+massachusetts+fire+control+computer&biw=940&bih=617&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=dmMmVarmOoK-ggTV5oOgCQ&ved=0CB0QsAQ#tbm=isch&tbs=rimg%3ACURAUOk7RxH1IjiclfMT7IUgpvvEyfiZwd-m-qAZvDOVtoAX5TOt8eozJIz7nZEBkxeHSB41gR5a31wwNmcqlqUOOCoSCZyV8xPshSCmEVWWGO2bru03KhIJ-8TJ-JnB36YRd3dmJB59yXMqEgn6oBm8M5W2gBHEpaugCc8jSSoSCRflM63x6jMkEQAelGlRNj2FKhIJjPudkQGTF4cRNZVTjmSjotMqEglIHjWBHlrfXBFBkFPECh_1DuioSCTA2ZyqWpQ44EV-tIKFhUkee&q=uss%20massachusetts%20fire%20control%20computer
If you have a preserved museum ship near you, go and have a look. You'll find the main battery fire control room located deep in the citadel between the machinery spaces (boilers, turbines, generators) and the forward magazine (serving A and B turrets). Operators could input things like ship speed and direction; target bearing, range, speed and direction; and wind speed and direction using knobs and the device would output a bearing and elevation for the guns. There are 7 preserved battleships (post Washington treaty): North Carolina, Alabama, Massachusetts and New Jersey are located in their namesake states. The Missouri is at Pearl Harbor, the Iowa is on display in California, and the Wisconsin is in Virginia. I omitted the Texas because it's so antiquated as to not likely have an example of the hardware described above.
The first digital electronic computers (based on relays) were used at Bletchley Park by the British to break Axis codes during WWII. Mechanical computers were still being used in warships because they were far more compact and were proven technology
-pete
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