Why an all-aft battleship battery is a poor signal

What about putting a battleship's entire main battery aft?

The layout sacrifices forward concentration and carries an unhelpful image of a ship designed to retreat rather than pursue.

An all-aft battery can look efficient on paper, but it weakens fire forward toward the direction a battleship normally wants to press an engagement. Concentrating the strongest arcs astern also makes the design look optimized to run away rather than chase.