Well, you're right ZeeWolf. While in both of Bismarck's battles fire was opened at around 21,000 yards (10 1/2 miles) the weather in both cases wasn't the best. On February 17 1944 USS
Iowa and
New Jersey engaged a Japanese light cruiser,
Katori, two destroyers and a trawler. The cruiser was attacked and severely damaged by carrier planes. The battleships finished off the cruiser (46 16" and 124 5" shells!?) one destroyer and the trawler, and gave chase to the other destroyer,
Nowaki.
The battleships opened fire at 35,000 yards, and continued firing by rangefinder, radar and spotter plane until the destroyer disappeared at 39,000 yards. Since at that range the shells were taking more than a minute to reach the target,
Nowaki's captain later reported that when he saw the flash from the guns he would immediately take evasive action, avoiding the battleships' shells by a fair amount.
Ignoring the fact that they didn't hit, it remains true that they could have hit, and they obviously thought it worth a try. So you're right, they should open fire at extreme range in the game. They just shouldn't have much chance of hitting anything at those ranges.
