A battleship remained extremely dangerous to an opponent inside gun range, but jet aircraft changed the geometry of naval combat. Their reach and ordnance let a carrier force attack while trying to remain outside the battleship's engagement envelope. This reduced the big-gun ship's primary role of destroying other warships even though it remained lethal at close range. A future gun system with aircraft-like reach might revive the concept of a primary gun-armed ship, probably under a different name.
Chapter · 3:04-5:04
Jet aircraft outrange battleship guns
Jet aircraft could attack beyond battleship gun range, eroding the ship-killing role in which big-gun ships were most lethal.