Stan Watkins who originated this hobby (and what became IR/CWCC), originally tried to construct a destroyer in a larger scale which I believe was 1/96. The ship was unsuccessful at the time (1978) because of the technical level of equipment back in the "old days".
Eventually he settled on the scale of 1/144 because it's size would allow the construction of the largest battleship, which could be transported in a car and be carried by one man. Stan's first 1/144 ship, a USS Houston class cruiser which was eventually armed with 4 BB cannons and one pump. This "4 gun one pump" cruiser was the "standard" combat ship for many years although eventually many people built battleships as the game matured.
Later of course the "small gun guys" got a little crazy and started running their ships at high rates of speed. Seeing a picture of the HMS Rodney up on plane with it's bow raised out of the water ended my interest in playing with the small gun guys. Although they have reduced their speeds, their ships still travel at high un-scale speeds and their battles do not resemble the type of scale combat we have in our game.
IR/CWCC has almost always used a "unit system" to determine a ships armament. The thought behind this is that it keeps the armament levels of similar ships the same. This way the game does not become a contest about who can squeeze the most weapons into a ship and/or who has the most money! Arming secondary guns, torpedoes, AA guns, etc. was not an option even if you had the room in your ship the rules limited you to X amount of guns and that's all you could have.
One caliber (BB) was used for all guns because there was really only one type of gun! This gun was originally manufactured by Stan Watkins and it is (was) the single biggest factor contributing to the growth of the R/C Combat hobby. Worries about safety also was a factor in retaining the BB cannon to represent all calibers of ships guns.
Although the IR/CWCC rules change every year many things have remained the same over the years. The retention of BB guns for all calibers of armament. The unit system which limits how many guns a ship can have. Un-scale speeds (including in reverse).
In the Pacific Northwest a group known as NASCWA was formed from clubs that were fighting using the IR/CWCC (or Texas) style of combat. This club was the first (to my knowledge) to start BIG GUN R/C Combat as we know it today. They abandoned the unit system and instituted different calibers to represent the various size guns carried on real ships. They also used a speed chart to determine each ships speed based on the speed that the real ship traveled. They also slowed down the speeds to a more "scale like" rate. Different hull thickness' were also allowed depending on the armor thickness of the real ship. Ships could now be "armed to the teeth".
When the South Coast Battle Group (in Southern California) was formed almost all the "good ideas" were taken from the defunct NASCWA rules and used by John "J.C." White (and others) to write the first South Coast Battle Group Rule Book. This rule book was the basis for all current Big Gun rules and practices. It should be noted that the Washington State based Queen's Own club, which rose out of the ashes of NASCWA, was extremely instrumental in providing advise and generally helping to get our club started.
It's really interesting to realize that while we (the SCBG) were just starting to play BIG GUN R/C Combat, the guys who started it in the Pacific Northwest had all but abandoned it in favor of 1/72nd combat! In fact the Queen's Own sold our club a lot of their old 1/144 ships which really helped our club get started.
While we were trying to build as many 1/144 scale ships as possible the members of the Queen's Own were embarking on a new adventure, 1/72nd scale naval combat.
The idea as I understand it was to reduce the amount of damage, build the ships to exact scale, reduce the building cost and time required for maintenance and include more scale details on the ships themselves. Strength of components (and weight) could be increased and therefore reliability could be increased as well.
Doubling the scale means of course that the displacement of the ship rises dramatically which means that the hull and superstructure can be built heavier and more weight can be added low in the ship to keep it stable.
Interestingly a return to the "unit system" for armament was decided upon. Ships would be limited to between 1 and 8 guns depending on displacement. Originally maximum displacement was limited to ships under 20,000 tons. Monitors, armored cruisers, coast defense battleships and other non-sea going ships were banned from participation.
The most common ship currently on the water is a 3 gun 3/16" caliber destroyer with rotating turrets with no rate of fire restriction. Motor Torpedo Boats (MTB) are the only ships allowed to fire torpedoes. Destroyers, destroyer escorts, frigates make up the majority of the combatants. The speed charts are 5 knots slower (i.e. 25 knots = 20 knots) for all ships except for clubs in windy areas which use the current 1/144 speed chart.
The result of this style of combat seems to be that people tend to build ONE ship and fight it for many years. After all, the difference between fighting a two gun boat against a three gun boat really becomes a question of the captain's skill. Although I'm sure it's nice to have an "extra" gun just in case! The ships tend to be more reliable and simple. The level of detail on some ships rivals some scale models.
Currently many people in the 1/72nd scale hobby are building large ships, some armed with 1/4" guns. Any gun over 8" is represented by 1/4" guns up to a maximum of eight. These ships are very large and very heavy and it is a big production getting them to the pond. So far they have participated in a few battles with mixed results. My personal opinion is that these large ships will probably be used only for special events or inter-club battles. It's very hard to miss a 1/72nd Iowa or Lützow and I would not want to have to try a retrieve one of these from the bottom of the pond. The big ships do look very cool and because of the larger scale they also behave more like real ships. They can also handle seas that are a little rougher than the 1/144 ships. Remember a 1" wave is 12' high in 1/144 scale and only 6' high in 1/72nd scale.
If you want to fight battleships with maximum armament definitely stick with 1/144 scale. Not being able to fit everything you want into the hull is the only arms control that our hobby has. If you want a lot of guns build a Yamato or an H-39. If you want to build WWI ships fine. Just don't expect them to be equal to a Yamato.
If you want to build a detailed ship that you can fight for many years with minimal maintenance and cost then build a 1/72nd ship and fight it using the Queen's Own rules. A two or three gun destroyer will provide you with years of fun and if you want you can always try building a Motor Torpedo Boat or a submarine which are possible in this larger scale. The great thing about 1/72nd is that the ships which can't be built or made competitive in 1/144 can be built in 1/72nd scale.
The other solution is to do both! Gary Powell's group in Sacramento fights both scales and we have two people in the South Coast Battle Group that are slowly working on 1/72nd destroyers. I think it would be very cool to have a large battleship in 1/144 scale as well as a 1/72 scale destroyer.
If you're interested in 1/72nd combat check out the Queen's Own home page.