Comments by "Steve Valley" (@stevevalley7835) on "The Drydock - Episode 182" video.

  1.  @Zonkotron  I think the velocity vs size debate was cited wrt the guns on the Nelsons. The formula E=M(Vsquared) argues that a higher velocity shell will deliver more energy. A Nelson gun fired at about 150fps higher muzzle velocity than a 15"/42. Penetration at 20,000 yards was 12.2" for a 16" vs 11.7" for a 15". Barrel life for the 16" was 200-250 rounds, vs 335 for the 15", so not a lot of penetration gained for the 30% reduction in barrel life, considering the 16" shell was also slightly heavier. The difference was even more stark between the USN 14/50 and 16"/45, The 14" Mk 4 (New Mexico and Tennessee class) fired a 1400lb shell at 2800fps and could penetrate 6.7" at 20,000 yards, with a barrel life of 250 rounds. The 16"/45 Mk 1 on the Colorado class fired a 2110lb shell at 2600fps, and could penetrate 11.5" @ 20,000 yards, with a barrel life of 350 rounds. It is hard to imagine, now, how a debate between the 14" and 16" could rage in the USN at the time, but it did.
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  2.  @MrNicoJac  I addressed this issue upthread. In short, the kinetic energy formula sounds good, but it doesn't seem to work out that way in practice. I posted some data for the USN 14"/50 and 16"/45 of WWI. Even though the 14" fired at a higher muzzle velocity, the 16" had more penetrating power. Additionally, a lighter shell tends to lose momentum faster, so the longer the range, the more the advantage of the heavier shell. And, as a result of the higher muzzle velocity, the barrel of a high velocity gun wears faster and requires replacement more often.
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  3.  @marinepixel6325  I think the only appeal of the Tennessees was that they exceeded treaty limits in both displacement and gun size. First London, for the first time, limited total cruiser force displacement, the same way that the WNT limited battleship and carrier force displacement. If the USN had poured money into basically gutting out the hull and starting over with modern powerplant, ventilation, secondary armament, fire control, as soon as the fleet limits of First London went into effect, the USN would want to get rid of them because, for the same displacement of the three Tennessees, they could have four completely new, modern, fast, heavy cruisers, with several thousand tons of quota left over.
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