Slow-killing weapons made big warships advantageous and drove an arms race.

Evidence

Solid iron balls smashed holes into hulls, toppled masts, and impaled crews with flying shards of timber. But it took a lot of iron balls to sink a ship. For this reason, bigger ships were better in a brawl. They packed more cannons and, therefore, fired a bigger broadside. Thick wooden hulls and bigger broadsides rendered the largest ships invulnerable to all but an equally matched rival, precisely the conditions conducive to an arms race. — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 445

Categorization

• XREF: Bigger-is-better under slow attrition maps directly onto biological weapon systems where blunt force favors larger size. — connects to: Ancient naval arms races ran to oversized, nonfunctional ships and collapsed; Weapons innovations trigger arms races in ships just as in animals — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 962

Related

• Weapons innovations trigger arms races in ships just as in animals (similarity 0.87)
• Ancient naval arms races ran to oversized, nonfunctional ships and collapsed (similarity 0.85)
• Identical circumstances trigger and collapse arms races in animals and humans. (similarity 0.84)
• A single naval technology change triggered the first ancient ship arms race. (similarity 0.84)
• Explosive shells made the largest wooden warships obsolete nearly overnight. (similarity 0.84)
• Aircraft arms races favored speed and maneuverability over size (similarity 0.84)
• Balancing selection normally curbs weapon size until some lineages escape into runaway arms races (similarity 0.83)
• Bigger weapons usually fail because their costs outweigh their benefits (similarity 0.83)
• When balancing selection fails, bigger weapons win every round and escalate the race. (similarity 0.83)
• Big weapons only benefit males with the reserves to wield them effectively (similarity 0.82)
• Comparisons of animal and human weapons have a long scholarly tradition. (similarity 0.80)
• Natural selection usually favors modest weapon size because cost offsets benefit (similarity 0.80)
• Species with huge weapons often show weak current selection on them. (similarity 0.80)
• Specific ecological circumstances must align before weapon arms races begin (similarity 0.80)
• Better propulsion technology permitted smaller, deadlier human weapons (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• Weapons innovations trigger arms races in ships just as in animals #expands (0.85) — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 962