Guns, warning shots and diplomatic signaling

Missiles usually offer longer range and destructive capability, while a gun offers visible choices before a weapon is fired. Training it toward another vessel can communicate a demand to stop an unwanted activity. A warning shot provides a further step in the example of graduated pressure. A missile sitting in a vertical-launch cell or launcher offers little comparable indication through its direction, because the reorientation described here happens after launch. By that stage the weapon is already flying toward its target. Deliberately keeping guns trained away can carry the opposite message: the dispute remains serious, but the ship seeks talks without bloodshed. The advantage being argued is control over diplomatic signaling during a confrontation.