Combustible cartridges and early naval autoloaders

What if modern combustible cartridge technology could be applied to naval guns in the 1920s?

It could speed firing and make autoloading more feasible, but practical naval reliability would remain the decisive hurdle.

Combustible cartridges would reduce ammunition mass and handling burden, offering faster fire especially for medium-caliber guns. Lighter rounds could make autoloading 6- or 8-inch weapons more practical and invite speculation about still larger mountings. Large-caliber autoloaders were technically conceivable; the harder problem was making them reliable under the motion and strain of naval service without unacceptable weight or cost. Applying the idea to 14- or 15-inch guns could transform capital-ship rates of fire, but that outcome remains explicitly counterfactual. Technical possibility still falls short of a mechanism dependable enough for fleet service.