How battleships and cruisers counter-flooded

How was counter-flooding carried out on battleships and cruisers?

Crews used dedicated tanks where possible, then deliberately flooded designated compartments when more corrective weight was needed.

The preferred response was to use purpose-designed tanks, including available fuel and ballast capacity, to correct list and trim. If that was insufficient, damage-control plans identified rooms that could be deliberately flooded. This gave crews a planned sequence rather than forcing them to improvise which spaces to sacrifice. The answer highlights the tradeoff between restoring stability and giving up buoyancy or usable internal volume.