During the earlier part of its service life, the Barracuda suffered a fairly high rate of unexplained fatal crashes, often involving experienced pilots. During 1945 the cause was traced to small leaks developing in the hydraulic system; the most common point for such a leak to happen was at the point of entry to the pilot's pressure gauge and was situated such that the resulting spray was directed straight into the pilot's face. The chosen hydraulic fluid contained ether and, as the aircraft were only rarely equipped with oxygen masks and few aircrew wore them below 10,000 ft/3,000 m anyway, the pilot quickly became unconscious during such a leak, inevitably leading to a crash. At the end of May 1945, an Admiralty order was issued that required all examples of the type to be fitted with oxygen as soon as possible, and for pilots to use the system at all times.