At close range, the game rewards rapid five- and six-inch secondary fire and makes it a major source of fires and damage. In dreadnought-era history, capital ships rarely closed to ranges at which their secondary batteries decided a battleship duel. Bismarck's final action is cited as memorable precisely because it was an exceptional close-range engagement. A six-inch secondary battery is later described as useful capital-ship firepower, though a dual-purpose battery would be better. The stream then returns to gameplay and notes that destroyers between the capital-ship lines would make five- and six-inch batteries especially important in the resulting flotilla battle.
Notable Point · 1:06:23-1:06:54
Secondary batteries: game effect versus battle reality
The simulation makes five- and six-inch secondary batteries decisive at short range, followed by a caution about their limited role in most real battleship engagements.