The calibre and weight of guns could only increase so far . The larger the gun , the slower it would be to load , the greater the stresses on the ship 's hull , and the less the stability of the ship . The size of the gun peaked in the 1880s , with some of the heaviest calibres of gun ever used at sea . HMS Benbow carried two 16 @.@ 25 @-@ inch ( 413 mm ) breech @-@ loading guns , each weighing 110 tons — no British battleship would ever carry guns as large . The Italian 450 mm ( 17 @.@ 72 inch ) guns would be larger than any gun fitted to a battleship until the 18 @.@ 1 @-@ inch ( 460 mm ) armament of the Japanese Yamato class of World War II . One consideration which became more acute was that even from the original Armstrong models , following the Crimean War , range and hitting power far exceeded simple accuracy , especially at sea where the slightest roll or pitch of the vessel as ' floating weapons @-@ platform ' could negate the advantage of rifling . American ordnance experts accordingly preferred smoothbore monsters whose round shot could at least ' skip ' along the surface of the water . Actual effective combat ranges , they had learned during the Civil War , were comparable to those in the Age of Sail — though a vessel could now be smashed to pieces in only a few rounds . Smoke and the general chaos of battle only added to the problem . As a result , many naval engagements in the ' Age of the Ironclad ' were still fought at ranges within easy eyesight of their targets , and well below the maximum reach of their ships ' guns .