Larger naval guns and layered defense against drones

Does the threat from drone swarms mean naval guns must become smaller and faster-firing rather than increase in caliber?

No single gun must answer every threat: larger main guns can serve long-range and bombardment roles, while layered defenses of rapid-fire smaller guns, lasers, electronic warfare, and missiles handle drones.

The main gun's missions differ from those of close-defence weapons. A larger gun may support shore bombardment or throw a fragmentation cloud against a hypersonic weapon at long range without needing the firing rate required against many small drones. Gun ammunition is also easier to replenish at sea than vertical-launch missiles, making a larger gun battery attractive while navies work on VLS rearming. For the gun layer of local defence, the preferred mix centres on 76 mm, or 3-inch, and 40 mm weapons, supplemented by smaller guns, lasers, electronic warfare, missiles, and passive measures. Each weapon needs a useful place in the layered defence rather than a requirement to answer every threat.