Re: Newer is always better
Not only the Navy -- they may have to take what builders give them.
In 1959, I took a pre-university gap year working for a company building instruments some parts of which were intended to run at high temperature. From previous reading of Trade press and catalogues of electronic component suppliers, I was aware of readily available MIL-SPEC wire insulated with heat resistant material, unlike the very meltable and combustable PVC I used at home. Not an enormous difference in price.
As school kid with electronics as a hobby, I had no difficulty finding this out -- and seeing the point of using it.
A long time later I read that PVC-insulated wiring on HMS Sheffield contributed to the fire (fierce combustion igniting other structural components, plus toxic fumes), and wondered how the builders could have been so negligent.
Cf. NASA and Apollo 1 -- flammable insulation in 100% oxygen.
Now I am old and cynical, and am beginning to understand.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
