Fast battleships break the traditional battle line

High speed magnifies station-keeping problems because a long line of capital ships must hold formation on a moving sea at roughly 28 knots. Its cruisers and destroyers need still more speed to screen and maneuver around the heavy ships. Breaking the fleet into smaller task groups becomes more practical than trying to drive one enormous line at that pace. Smaller formations, however, lose some of the collective spotting and ranging data available when many ships observe the same fall of shot. That makes the slow firing cycle of 21-inch guns a more serious tactical weakness and favors fast ships with enough rate of fire to solve their own gunnery problem.