A quoted British range table gives a 47-second flight to 20,000 yards and another 24 seconds to reach 24,500 yards, prompting doubts about the practical meaning of effective range. At 5,000 yards, the quoted flight is about seven seconds and the impact velocity remains above 1,900 feet per second. At 3,000 yards, the estimate falls to roughly two and a half to three seconds, shorter than the time needed to reload. Observers can therefore see the fall of shot and correct fire rapidly. These timings help explain the Royal Navy's preference for very close night engagements, with Cape Bon and Narvik illustrating how much closer destroyers sometimes fought.
Notable Point · 6:05:58-6:12:35
Why short shell flight times matter in night actions
At a few thousand yards, cruiser shells arrive within seconds, allowing much faster correction than long-range fire.