The reported mount larger than eight barrels is uncertain, with a twelve-barrel arrangement more plausible than sixteen. A hybrid with eight Pom-Poms and four Bofors might have combined close volume with reach, but weight, ammunition, and mechanical complexity would rise sharply. An earlier Battle-class destroyer serves as a counterfactual platform for what such concentrated firepower could demand from a hull. The limiting doctrine expected fighters and heavy anti-aircraft guns to reduce a mass strike until only one or two aircraft reached an individual ship. Under that assumption, a reliable local mount mattered more than placing the greatest possible number of barrels in one installation.
Notable Point · 2:29:16-2:35:42
Why Pom-Pom mounts stopped short of sixteen barrels
A rumored twelve-barrel concept illustrates the attraction and limits of concentrated fire, including topweight, complexity, and doctrine that expected only one or two attackers to reach each ship.