Texas's shell weight and rate of fire explain why a battleship could reshape a defended shoreline. At the rate used in the calculation, ten guns firing 1,125-pound high-capacity shells could deliver roughly twenty-five and a half tons of ammunition in four minutes and sustain the effort. This mass contrasts with expensive precision weapons: accuracy matters, but quantity can become decisive in a major fight. That is the operational logic behind keeping a large gun platform close enough to support a landing force.
Notable Point · 5:36-9:34
Battleship firepower in amphibious warfare
The 14-inch battery illustrates the volume of fire that made old battleships formidable support ships for amphibious operations.