The live comparison uses gun count, rate of fire, duration, shell weight, and explosive delivered. A twelve-gun six-inch battery firing about 18 rounds per gun per minute consumes ammunition far faster than nine automatic eight-inch guns firing about eight rounds per minute. Similar total shell tonnage can therefore conceal a major difference in round count, fuzes, and magazine space. Extending endurance from twenty minutes toward a tactically useful half hour or more multiplies the storage problem. Armor-piercing, high-explosive, and anti-aircraft ammunition must then divide the available capacity, helping explain why later high-rate mountings often use only one gun.
Chapter · 1:51:17-2:18:28
Six-inch versus eight-inch autoloader ammunition logistics
Higher six-inch fire rates can demand far more rounds and magazine volume than a slower but harder-hitting eight-inch battery.