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Wing turrets were secondary gun turrets placed on pre-dreadnought and early dreadnought battleships in an attempt to increase the power of their broadsides. Wing turrets were placed on the sides of the ship, either in freestanding turrets, or built into the sides of the ship, like the side emplacements on the Mark I tanks of World War I. This is in contrast to turrets on more modern battleships, which only have centerline (built down the center of the ship) turrets. Wing turrets should not be confused with much smaller secondary guns mounted in casemates to protect against torpedo boats. Wing turrets were commonplace on capital ships (battleships and cruisers) during the late 1800's up until about 1906-1910. The thinking for having wing turrets was that like the ships-of-the-line of old, the more guns that could be brought to bear on a broadside, the better. Wing turrets were usually (but not always, as some early "all big gun" ships had wing turrets) slightly smaller in size and power than the main centerline turrets, which made it possible to add multiple turrets on a side. The smaller guns had a higher rate of fire than the main batteries, and the smaller ammunition they used allowed for more to be stored in the ships magazine. Problems with wing turrets were many in number, which caused them to be eliminated from battleship designs starting about a generation of ships after the HMS Dreadnought. Problems included their very limited fire angles when built into the side of the ship, the different ammunition from the main guns, and shorter range than the main centerline batteries. Also, at longer ranges, the higher maximum rate of fire of the smaller calibres was negated by the need to wait for shell splashes before firing the next salvo and the determination of those from the other calibers. This negated the advantage of small-caliber guns; heavier weapons were effectively as fast and packed a much greater punch. Calibers larger than 12" also severely strained the hull, and it was right out to mount guns larger than 13.5" in wing turrets. Superfiring turrets virtually obsoleted wing turrets, as a ship mounting superfiring turrets could bring the same number of guns to bear on a broadside as a ship mounting wing turrets, with fewer additional structures aboard.
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