Pre-dreadnought designers expected a close melee, while accurate heavy-gun fire made battle at long range increasingly plausible. A change in expected fighting distance altered what armour had to protect and how a ship brought its main battery to bear. It also reduced the relevance of features intended for a confused close action. This tactical shift explains the all-big-gun battleship more clearly than treating larger guns as an isolated technical fashion.
Notable Point · 24:10-24:46
How long-range salvo fire changed battleship design
Accurate long-range heavy-gun salvoes displaced the close-range melee assumptions that had shaped pre-dreadnought armour and layout.