Editing Colorado-class battleship (section)

====Secondary guns====
Fourteen [[5"/51 caliber gun|{{convert|5|in|adj=on|0}}/51 caliber]] Mark 15 guns were installed to defend against enemy destroyers. This was reduced to 12 in 1922. The Mark 15 fired a {{convert|50|lb|kg|adj=on}} shell at a velocity of {{convert|3150|ft/s|m/s}} to a maximum range of {{convert|15850|yd|smi km|1|abbr=off|disp=(or)}} at 20&nbsp;degrees{{sfn|DiGiulian 2012 (5"/51)}} at a rate of seven rounds per minute and was extremely accurate, with a danger space longer than the range to the target for distances less than {{convert|3000|yd|m}}. As in the ''New Mexico'' and ''Tennessee'' classes, these were mounted in unarmored casemates on the main deck, one deck higher than in previous classes, to allow them to be manned in heavy weather if necessary.{{sfn|Breyer|1973|p=226}}{{sfn|DiGiulian 2012 (5"/51)}}

Heavily damaged at Pearl Harbor, in 1942 ''West Virginia'' began a major reconstruction that saw her Mark 15 guns removed and replaced with sixteen [[5-inch/38-caliber gun|{{convert|5|in|adj=on|0}}/38 caliber]] Mark 12 dual-purpose guns in twin turrets. Urgently needed in the Pacific, ''Maryland'' and ''Colorado'' retained 8 of the prewar Mark 15s, in Colorado's case until the end of the war;{{sfn|Sturton|2008|p=217}} the twin turrets planned and later installed were at that time in short supply, and it was only in May 1945 that ''Maryland'' would be refitted with 16 5in/38 in 8 twin mountings as in ''West Virginia''. The Mark 12 fired a {{convert|55.18|lb|kg|adj=on}} shell to a maximum range of {{convert|17392|yd|m}} and a maximum elevation of {{convert|37200|ft|m}} at an elevation of 45 degrees.{{sfn|Breyer|1974|p=189}} They had a high rate of fire due to their being hand-loaded but power-rammed and their capability for easy loading at any angle of elevation. The introduction of proximity-fused anti-aircraft shells in 1943 made the 5&nbsp;in/38 even more potent in this capacity.{{sfn|DiGiulian 2012 (5"/38)}}