The availability of many shell types should have enabled comparative trials and improvement of the rounds already in service. Manufacturers could instead defend an existing product while seeking money for a new design aimed at a newly defined threat. This rewarded research into new shells without necessarily improving the ammunition sailors would actually load and fire. The procurement system needed to support dependable refinement as well as attractive novelty.
Notable Point · 17:23-18:15
Funding novelty could leave service shells unreliable
Manufacturers could win support for a new shell against a newly defined threat more easily than for correcting faults in established ammunition.