I am reading "The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors" and I have a quick question naval gunnery question:
How in the hell did ships, say during the battle of Jutland, hit each other at ranges of 20 miles without radar and computers when both were moving, rolling and pitching? I found this site
but there has to be a simpler explantion.

Thanks,
Shaun

It was a combination of the following, geometry, physics, and luck. If you look at the total number of rounds fired during Jutland and the number that actually hit it is amazing, something like 11% hit.

Even during the Battle of Manila Bay the hit percentage was pretty small. The US fleet was shooting at mostly sitting Spanish ships. Of course Radar helped with aiming of guns, but still shooting at a moving target on the ocean 20 miles away was tough.

The Iowa class battleships had a “computer” to help direct fire, but it wasn’t prefect by any means. Even today firing at a target at sea isn’t all that easy. When we did our gun training in the Navy we fired at shore targets. I think our best was a 95% hit rate. When we had to fire on the run at a stationary target we dropped back down pretty far.