Destroyer gun houses and weather protection

An enclosed gun position does not necessarily provide substantial armour protection. Calling a lightly enclosed destroyer mounting a turret can suggest the much heavier protection found around the main batteries of ships such as Belfast or Iowa. HMAS Vampire in Sydney provides the physical comparison: the thin metal around its guns primarily keeps out the weather. If hit, that enclosure could produce dangerous fragments instead of protecting the crew. The distinction helps explain why the Italian guns are described as mounts even where they have turret-like housings.