Weapons testing after Jutland

A weapon must fire reliably, and its ammunition must produce the intended effect on the target. More realistic prewar armor-penetration testing probably would have exposed weaknesses in British shells before the Battle of Jutland and accelerated the development of improved ammunition. The gap between hits achieved and shells that performed properly materially limited British results in the battle. Jutland then left the Royal Navy with two lasting preoccupations: the German fleet's escape during the night and the reliability of weapons, shells, and torpedoes. The German escape also raised the fear that the enemy could have used the same freedom of movement to attack the British fleet at night. By World War II this experience encouraged extensive proof of weapon systems, a practice that remains necessary whenever missiles, ammunition, or their host ships are upgraded. Lives, ships, and potentially national survival depend on finding failures before combat.