World War II Battleship secondary armament

uss massachusetts 5-inch secondary gun battery

with emergence of threat air-delivered weapons, nature of secondary guns changed once more. needed multi-purpose weapons, high-angle fire capability engage aircraft, traditional use against destroyers. although used against capital ships, extreme range of capital ship engagements (through superior optics , target prediction and, later, radar), meant not expected achieve much.

high angle weapons not mounted in casemates. thus, migrated small turrets mounted on upper deck. in order hit fast-moving air target, high rate of fire required, secondary guns reverted 5-inch 6-inch size although 6 inch guns still used several navies including france, germany, italy , japan in new built battleships.