How postwar gun tests could mislead the Royal Navy

How did British testing of German guns produce misleading conclusions after the First World War?

Early trials supplied an incomplete picture. More consistent testing after the Nelson-class guns entered service showed that effective weapons still fell short of the performance expected from those results.

The Royal Navy recognized the problem after the Nelson-class guns entered service and their effects could be tested more consistently. The explanation links hopes for a 15-inch/50 weapon with the 16-inch/45 guns fitted to Nelson and Rodney and with lessons drawn from German shell construction after the First World War. Both battleships still possessed effective guns, but their performance fell short of what had been hoped for. The methodological problem was incomplete data: early results supported an interpretation that a larger body of testing later overturned. Foxo adds that test conditions and environmental effects can be mistaken for general characteristics of the weapon.