A four-inch weapon can rapidly smother lightly protected attackers, while a six-inch gun is valued for punching through the protection of a larger cruiser. A well-balanced five-inch weapon appears attractive because it might bridge those roles, but contemporary metallurgy and practical design limited that ambition. Renown is contrasted with Tiger because the former is not presented as a specialist battlecruiser hunter. Tiger's six-inch secondaries give a battlecruiser hunter sustained close-range hitting power if an equal opponent prevents it from holding the range open.
Notable Point · 20:41-24:50
The five-inch compromise and the six-inch role
The search for an effective five-inch gun reveals the trade-off between rapid fire against small craft and the penetration needed against cruisers or peer battlecruisers.