Many prewar pom-pom arrangements were designed for visual control, whereas wartime Bofors installations increasingly arrived alongside radar information that made longer-ranged aimed fire more practical. Neither weapon escaped the physical cost of sustained combat. During the fighting around Crete, ships could replace every pom-pom barrel across two runs; American Bofors batteries in island operations could exhaust barrels just as rapidly. Forward stocks and replacement capacity therefore mattered as much as nominal barrel-life figures.
Notable Point · 43:41-46:51
Radar and barrel replacement altered wartime gun performance
Later Bofors installations benefited from radar assistance, while intense campaigns could consume complete sets of 40 mm barrels within days.