As convoys moved northward, the soldiers trained their heavy, turret-mounted machine guns on highway overpasses favored by snipers.
While the design of Monitor was well-suited for river combat, her low freeboard and heavy turret made her highly unseaworthy in rough waters.
However, while the design proved exceptionally well-suited for river combat, the low profile and heavy turret caused poor seaworthiness in rough waters.
Her displacement was reduced by a total of 4000 LT, achieved mainly by the elimination of her main armament of eight 16-inch (406 mm) guns in four twin turrets (including their heavy turret mounts, their armor, and other equipment).
The heavy wing turrets caused the ships to have a large metacentric height, which should have made them very stable gun platforms, but their roll period proved to coincide with that of the average North Sea swell.
What is going on outside is seen intermittently through the telescopic viewfinder and cross hairs of the gunner's sights, which move cumbersomely up and down and from side to side with the tank's heavy hydraulic turret.
Ericsson was able to offer the heaviest possible turret (guns and armour protection) by deliberately designing a ship with very low freeboard.
From a turreted heavy machine gun, a young fighter delivered a withering fusillade toward the snipers a few hundred metres away.
Do you imagine intricate wrought-iron work or turrets of heavy stone?
Each ship lacked masts and carried four heavy guns in two turrets fore and aft.
