Splash!

This is coolbert:

The HMS Dreadnought, characterized as the first "modern" [1905] battleship, was noted for innovative designs, the vessel conceived as being an all-big gun ship being perhaps foremost in the minds of the designers?

All-big guns, solving or providing a remedy to a problem, a chaotic situation - - that was present in the naval battles of what is called the "pre-Dreadnought" [prior to 1905] era.

Warships, during battle, multiple vessels firing multiple rounds from multiple caliber guns at multiple targets, all doing so simultaneously, NOT able from the conflicting splashes able to properly range to the target and adjust for accuracy.

Chaos on the battlefield [the ocean]!

Pre-Dreadnought battleships, having a MIX of gun, calibers, that proper exact mix being felt to be most advantageous! BUT that NOT being so during a naval battle. The MIX of gun calibers causing confusion and CHAOS!!

MIXED gun calibers aboard a pre-Dreadnought battleship for instance, as found on the USS Oregon:

USS Oregon [pre-Dreadnought]:

* 4 × 13 in (330 mm)/35 cal guns
* 8 × 8 in (200 mm)/35 cal guns
* 4 × 6 in (150 mm)/40 cal guns
* 20 × 6-pounders (57 mm (2.2 in))
* 6 × 1-pounders (37 mm (1.5 in))

Contrasted with the "all-big" guns array as carried by the HMS Dreadnought:

* 5 × 2 - BL 12-inch (203 mm) Mark X guns [ten 12-inch guns total]
* 27 × 1 - 12-pdr 18 cwt Mark I guns [3" guns used to ward off torpedo boat attack!]

"The Dreadnought was Admiral John ("Jackie") Fisher's
answer to Tsushima. The ship's large size carried a
main battery of large caliber (12 inch) guns
[quite often described as solely large caliber guns].
This made finding the range of the target easier than it
had been with the pre-Dreadnoughts, whose main
batteries of mixed caliber resulted in confusion
about which guns had fired the shells that might be
seen falling near the target."

"Most historians also cite advantages in fire
control; at long ranges guns were aimed by observing
the splashes caused by shells fired in salvos, and
it was difficult to interpret different splashes
caused by different calibers of gun. There is still
debate as to whether this point was important."

"The majority of pre-dreadnought battleships had a
main armament of four heavy guns of 12-inch (305 mm)
caliber, a secondary armament of six to eighteen
quick-firing guns of 4.7 inches (119 mm) to 7.5
inches (191 mm) caliber, and other smaller weapons.
Some designs had an intermediate battery of 8-inch [guns]"

Well, this is all intuitive, is it not? Still debatable? You decide!

Gunners and weapons control officers, firing the main guns of a battleship, watching for the splashes of the rounds, making adjustments as necessary for accuracy, found themselves in a state of confusion, chaos, when faced with the impossible task of differentiating between the splashes from various calibers of guns all firing at once.

In training - - in practice - - this WAS NOT a problem. A single warship, firing at a target in a controlled environment, at a leisurely manner perhaps, taking time to "get things right" those gunners and weapons control officers ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN that the splashes they observed were from THEIR guns and also knowing with integrity what guns were firing at what and when. NOT a problem in training. But in BATTLE, with mixed caliber guns all firing at once - - CHAOS ENSUING - - NO GOOD!!

coolbert.