Back in the 80’s, a neighbor and I talked about his WWII experiences. He was at Salvo straits on a cruiser. He manned one of the smaller guns, but it was still in a turret (8-inch?). In any event, his overarching memory was of the near misses. He said, even if a shell hit a fair ways away, the concussion was terrific in the turret that he manned. His ship may have been hit elsewhere, I don’t know. But he said there were significant injuries from the near misses.
These guys were tough.
Soory for the late reply, I got caught up in getting some chores done and never made iy back to FR last night.
Your neighbor was most like ly in 5”/38 caliber turret of the secondary guns. Most WW-II cruisers had either 4 or 6 dual 5”/ 38 caliber as secondary guns.
Regards
alfa6 ;>}