I've played nearly 1.5k battles and have no problem or encountered any which can not be explained using the spotting mechanics.
It's fairly straight forwards:
Ship is spotted at a certain distance.
Ship fires guns, that distance is increased.
Ship uses AA, that distance is increased.
Ship is on fire, that distance is increased.
Ship is in smoke, can't be seen.
Team mate spots for ship in smoke (could be another DD so you don't know that they are there), ship in smoke can now shoot out of smoke.
Ship goes behind island so can't be spotted.
In a DD, if I'm going towards enemy, when I get close to my spotting distance I will make a turn to stay on edge of distance. Sometimes, I miscalculate and become spotted but because I'm already manovering to get out of spot distance I might only be spotted for a couple of seconds.
It's quiet easy to understand and either stay hidden or not.