The autoloader calculation begins with a four-round-per-minute burst and then settles to three rounds per minute. With sixteen guns and roughly four minutes of flight time, more than two hundred shells could be on their way before the opening rounds landed. That density makes the first minutes exceptionally destructive and may shorten the engagement before the nominal magazine endurance becomes decisive. A ship carrying roughly 320 rounds per gun could sustain the theoretical rate for far longer than most battles would last, although barrel wear and practical magazine choices still constrain the design.
Notable Point · 1:01:36-1:03:57
Salvo density versus magazine endurance
Rapid fire could place more than two hundred 14-inch shells in flight before the first salvos arrived, shortening combat while consuming magazines at an extraordinary rate.