The Mark 14 torpedo as a testing failure

Were Mark 14-family problems caused by trying to build air-, surface-, and submarine-launched torpedoes at once?

No; the deeper problem was a testing system that certified weapons as effective despite defects later exposed in combat.

Operational results contradicted the confidence produced by prewar trials. Multiple Mark 14-family defects survived because the test system kept certifying the weapons as effective. The institutional failure resembled Britain's experience with defective First World War armor-piercing shells. In both cases, the validation method could not reveal weaknesses that combat exposed immediately.