A mature technology's reliability cannot be compared fairly with the problems of a newly transformed one. Traditional cannon had centuries of incremental improvement behind them, whereas early twentieth-century shells and guns were changing rapidly and inevitably suffered failures. The Fairey Swordfish offers a naval-aviation parallel: its lineage was repeatedly refined around stability, reliability, and night torpedo work. These virtues came from a long development history and did not prove that an older technical approach was inherently superior.
Notable Point · 36:11-38:22
Mature designs explain cannon reliability and the Fairey Swordfish
Long refinement made old cannon dependable, just as decades of incremental naval-aircraft development helped make the Fairey Swordfish stable and reliable.