Battleships were an interesting chapter in naval history. They were first developed around 60 years before aircraft carriers, increasingly designed with the idea that they would be able to hit enemy targets while remaining out of range of returned fire. That ended up being an unrealistic expectation. Those 16 inch guns can lob a 1 ton shell nearly 24 miles but not very accurately at that range.

Battleships probably outlived their tactical usefulness. They were definitely good for projecting force. Few things say "I'm going to obliterate you" like a large, fast ship armed with 9 giant-ass canons.

[–] kalpol@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

The concept of a line of battle ship is really old -depends maybe on how you define weaponry. There were big ships with slingshots and trebuchets in ancient times. The first one matching the modern type was HMS Dreadnought in 1905, and the last was HMS Vanguard in 1945.

Development was really about deterrence more than anything, but then the planes came.

As for accuracy, the record for a hit at longest range is shared by Warspite and Scharnhorst, both hitting a target at 15 miles, also while steaming at high speed.