I've heard this before...

According to the Army Magazine Hooah Guide to Future Combat Systems,

The tin can entered the military inventory with the Royal Navy in 1810, but the first purpose-built
can opener didn’t show up until 48 years later, thanks to an American inventor who saw a way to
improve the hammer-and-chisel bashing method that served in the interim. The Royal Navy recognized
the tin can as leap-ahead technology, but nobody thought the process through to the poor
ship’s cook who had to crack one open during an Atlantic gale.

(part of an argument for the spiral development process)