Why SG radar reached US cruisers unevenly in 1942

Why was SG radar late reaching some US heavy cruisers, and did that cause friendly fire at Guadalcanal?

Producing enough sets and integrating them into trained shipboard teams took time, while radar delay is rejected as a simple explanation for the friendly-fire incidents.

SG radar installation depended on manufacturing enough sets while American industry was still tooling up production. Each factory needed its component suppliers working at adequate volume, alongside the many other demands of wartime mobilization. A Timberborn production-chain example illustrates how an urgent threat can divert effort from an apparently straightforward construction goal. Installation also left a training task: operators needed to interpret the returns and command teams needed experience using the information. Radar delay is rejected as a straightforward explanation for the Guadalcanal friendly-fire incidents. The production and training account does not supply a detailed investigation of those individual incidents.