Comments by "Sar Jim" (@sarjim4381) on "HMS Colossus - Guide 186" video.

It's always seemed odd to me that mast positions compared to stack locations was a constant problem from the start of the age of steam until (in some cases) right up to WWII. Naval architects and engineers knew how air moved across the decks and which way smoke would go. They also know that fire control and lookout positions too near a stack could not only make both positions less effective, the great clouds of smoke under a full head of steam could actually asphyxiate crew members in those position. Regardless, ships kept coming out that would be partly crippled in battle due to the issue. It's like using square wheels on cars long after it was apparent that square wheels didn't work. :-)
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@lawrencewestby9229 You have to look at on overhead plan view of the ship to understand cross deck firing. From the side, it appears the superstructure obstructs the rotation of the wing turrets more than it really did. The structures were sharply angled as they got closer to the deck edge and the barrels of each wing turret. Even with that, the forward turret usually had to elevate the barrels ten or so degrees to clear the forward superstructure as it swung to the cross deck position. The opposite turret was only effective through a range of twenty to thirty degrees before the barrels either fouled the superstructure or blast damage was intolerable. Wing turrets were an attempt to save on armor weight and hull length, but actual experience showed the whole concept was unworkable, so they rapidly fell out of favor.
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Jimmy De'Souza First, echelon turrets are different than plain wing turrets think of a formation of geese compared to two people walking side by side. Second, I didn't read you were talking about the plan view of the Colossus. Look at the overhead and side view at https://www.the-blueprints.com/blueprints/ships/ships-uk/49161/view/hms_colossus_(battleship)_(1911)/. Do you see the cutouts in the boat bridges? Those we so the guns could go to maximum elevation and clear the structure before coming back to normal elevation for cross deck firing. If it still doesn't make sense to you, maybe someone else can explain it better.
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Jimmy De'Souza HMS Neptune was the first class with echelon wing turrets rather than wing turrets located directly across from each other. Echelon turrets allowed all the main battery to be brought to bear (within a limited arc) rather than losing the fire of non-echelon wing turrets. Echelon turrets were an attempt to bring a larger broadside without increasing metacentric height and thus stability. What plans are you looking at with echelon turrets without at least some cross deck capability?
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