Muzzle loading exposed crews and slowed fire, especially at close range. That exposure undermined the protective purpose of a turret and made casualties more likely as engagement distance fell. A defective breech, however, could destroy the entire gun crew, disable a turret, or spread an explosion into the magazine and threaten the ship. Retaining muzzle loaders reflected a judgment that losing a few exposed gunners might be less dangerous to the battle and war than losing a turret or ship to a catastrophic failure.
Notable Point · 21:58-24:14
Balancing gun-crew exposure against magazine risk
The gun choice weighed frequent crew exposure against the rarer possibility that a breech explosion could destroy a turret or reach the magazine.