Technology perfected too late in the gunship era

Were any naval technological advances adopted too late to realize their value?

Yes; some highly refined gunship-era systems matured just as the missile era reduced the payoff from further perfection.

The image of polishing an already excellent diamond captures the problem. Near the end of a technological era, engineers can keep refining a mature system while delaying its adoption in pursuit of still better performance. Some late gunship technologies were caught in that cycle. The missile-ship age then changed the basis of naval combat before those refinements could deliver their full value. Technical excellence can arrive after the strategic return on further improvement has begun to disappear.