'Masts on Horizon!' and Flat-Earth Beliefs

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Bilge_Rat

it is close, apparently the horizon is only 3 miles away when at sea level,

I found it fascinating while studying sea battles when I was a young lad. For example, HMS Prince of Wales opened fire on Bismarck at 26,000 yds or 13 nautical miles so you are in a situation where only sailors in the top masts can spot part of the opposing ship and shells are literally curving around the earth to hit a ship which is mostly beyond the horizon.

The ancient Greeks had already figured out the earth was round in 500 B.C.

Your post got me looking a few things up and I came up with this.

The greatest range at which one ship's guns have successfully hit another vessel is 24 km (15 miles), a feat that occurred twice during the second world war. On 8 June 1940 the German battleship Scharnhorst hit the British aircraft carrier Glorious at that range in the North Atlantic, while a month later on 9 July, during the battle of Calabria the British battleship HMS Warspite hit the Italian flagship Guilio Cesare at a similar distance.
https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com...by-a-ships-gun