Krax' your research is right on the money.

Part of the trouble is visualizing it. 24k yards is way long for most of us to get a grip on it. When you go through the geometry/gun firepower a bit, it is obvious that an 203 would be coming in at different angles than a 380 over the same distance -- and a review of Hood's deck armors suggest the near-impossibility of a 203 bopping though all of them at that range (though ironically a 1920 RN study of the Hood specified the exact danger which apparently killed her 20+ years later).