Comments by "Frank DeMaris" (@kemarisite) on "The Drydock - Episode 109" video.

@TheKingofbrooklin even at battle ranges those shells are still travelling at supersonic speeds (1200-1500 fps) and the tracer is facing the wrong direction, so almost certainly not. However, a common practice was to "chase salvos" by steering toward the last enemy salvo, i.e., adjust course slightly from base course toward the side the last salvo hit on. If the salvo was long, you change course to open the range, and vice versa if the salvo was short. This makes it more difficult to hit your ship.
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@coreyglenn6068 https://cdsg.org/the-harbor-defenses-of-cristobal-panama-panama-canal-zone-atlantic-side/ I count seven 16" and twelve 14" guns, plus lots of 12" mortars and 6" and 155 mm guns. Admittedly this is split between two coasts, with five 16" guns on the Pacific side and the 14" guns evenly split. This at a time when two big guns in a fort were adequate to deter an aggressor.
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@tonyvancampen-noaafederal2640 some of the problems of the 25 mm Type 96 were created by the Japanese when they changed the original French design, and they captured copies of the 40 mm Bofors at Singapore so they could have replaced the box magazines with a top-feeding clip system without a lot of trouble. The elevation and traverse speed of the mounts and the inadequacy of the sights are much bigger problems that might eventually be corrected. The biggest problem is that the 25 mm round is still a light round for point defense and retaliatory fire and the Japanese never had a medium AA gun like the Bofors in significant service to break up attacks before weapons release.
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@stevevalley7835 it's a thought, but even the Germans never did that and they actually had 37 mm guns in service. Along with a single-shot AA gun to replace with the Breda.
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@mcguirecrsr I dont doubt there are many such reports. It still requires a fairly specific orientation and someone catching a glimpse of an incoming shell one second before impact isn't going to give the target ship time to dodge. http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNUS_16-45_mk1_Swann-House_pic.jpg Here's a picture of a house hit by a practice 16" shell, with the shell in the foreground. "The size of a telephone booth" is a bit of an overstatement on the part of the witnesses. Tracer at night will obviously make it more visible and easier to track.
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Thing about the Beaverford in HX-84 is that Scheer's log says nothing to confirm the popular account of Beaverford's fight, which first appeared in print in 1944. Scheer's log recognizes the action of Jervis Bay and one small freighter that fired back despite being on fire (Kenbane Head), but Beaverford's sinking is merely noted as being slowed by the cargo of timber and requiring a torpedo to finish off.
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@yulu803 pretty common, actually: An obvious advantage of using liquid-loading--rapidly exploited--was the ability to store fuel in the liquid protective layer and then replace it with sea-water of similar density, thus retaining the system's protective qualities as fuel was expended. Less obvious was the proper sequencing of liquid and void layers, or their appropriate depth. http://www.navweaps.com/index_tech/tech-047.php
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