Barbettes vs. Barbettes

[Littorio]

This always confused me in naval designs. So, a raised platform on which a gun can be used to make superfiring above another is called a barbette, yes? Then there is also the actual..."shaft" into the deck per say on which the turret gunhouse is planted. That's also a barbette, correct, but a different type? Then there are old-school, open barbette mounts for guns that we don't see in game because that was 1880s and earlier, right? The whole multiple usages of the word always confused me, so I would like to hear from some of the fine people with more naval knowledge. For example, in the components part of the designer, does the "Barbette" part offering armor and whatnot apply to the raised structures for superfiring, or the sunken shafts into the deck?

[akd]

A good article:

"One of the biggest problems is that the use of the term ‘barbette’ was and is incredibly sloppy."

I think the game sees it in the most modern terms, i.e. the armored tube (above or below deck) that a turret (in modern terms) is on top of.  Of course in practice in game it is either a 3D bit that lets you put turrets in different relative positions that has no known armor value (maybe it is derived from some other value?) and for which hits / destruction are determined in some obscure way, or it is a stat-modifying menu selection that has no real connection to the actual armor design of the ship.

[Littorio]

1 hour ago, akd said:

A good article:

"One of the biggest problems is that the use of the term ‘barbette’ was and is incredibly sloppy."

I think the game sees it in the most modern terms, i.e. the armored tube (above or below deck) that a turret (in modern terms) is on top of.  Of course in practice in game it is either a 3D bit that lets you put turrets in different relative positions that has no known armor value (maybe it is derived from some other value?) and for which hits / destruction are determined in some obscure way, or it is a stat-modifying menu selection that has no real connection to the actual armor design of the ship.

Ah, so you can choose the "Barbette" component in the designer and get the armor perks even if you don't mount actual raised barbettes on your ship, aka your turrets are flush with the deck and not superfiring? I always avoid selecting a barbette component because I assumed it only applied if you used the raised structures. Thanks for the read, it was very interesting! I had no idea the terms were so conflated.

Edited December 7, 2021 by Littorio