Gun calibre is treated as another warship-design trade-off rather than an automatic race toward the largest weapon available. Very large guns offer theoretical advantages, but a long reload can reduce the practical value of each increase in shell weight and penetration. The designs discussed settle around 15- to 16.5-inch guns and use numerous barrels, including a five-quadruple-turret example, to overwhelm opponents through volume of fire. Calibre, reload time, and barrel count have to be judged together.
Notable Point · 24:12-25:10
Choosing naval gun size without sacrificing rate of fire
A game-design aside explains why ever-larger battleship guns may be less useful than a heavy battery that still reloads quickly and puts many barrels on target.