A ship with only two single-gun turrets loses half its gun power when one mount fails. Multi-gun turrets may therefore return if greater rates of fire become necessary. Limited firing arcs create another vulnerability that may only become obvious in combat. The fictional Manticore corvette and the Type 31 show how overlapping coverage can keep a threat axis protected after a failure. On the Type 31, the forward 57 mm gun's broad aft arc and the three-gun arrangement let the mounts support one another instead of leaving one side dependent on a single weapon. The Baltimore and Cleveland classes provide the historical comparison: superfiring centreline mounts placed more anti-aircraft guns ahead, astern, and on either broadside than isolated broadside positions could.
Notable Point · 50:32-55:37
Weapon arcs, mutual coverage, and redundancy
The game's turret layouts lead to a practical design question: can a ship still cover the threat axis after one mount is lost or limited by its firing arc?