Are battleships safer at sea if a sinking becomes unrecoverable?

Would engagement in deep water be more dangerous because sunken ships could not be recovered?

Yes, a sinking would be final, but maneuver and coordinated defense would make each ship harder to hit in the first place.

A ship lost offshore cannot be raised as several Pearl Harbor battleships were, so every deep-water sinking becomes a permanent loss. A fleet at sea, however, is not constrained by berths and harbor geometry. Ships can turn, evade, concentrate fire, and maintain a formation designed for mutual defense. The consequences of sinking are worse in deep water, while maneuver improves the odds of avoiding the hit that causes it.