Reliability is an operational advantage: the best system for a fleet is one it can build, maintain, and keep fighting with under wartime conditions. British and American equipment was not always the most technically ambitious option, but it was often deliberately kept within what wartime organisations could support. Availability over a long campaign can matter more than a narrow paper advantage that demands excessive servicing or specialist support. Naval systems face this test whenever ships and weapons must remain ready across sustained operations.
Notable Point · 1:59:56-2:00:30
A weapon must be maintainable in war
British and American wartime strength often lay in equipment that could be kept working reliably, not merely in the most advanced design on paper.