Because of its distinctive single-armed design, the Mark 13 is often referred to as the "one-armed bandit".

Total capacity was reduced by 1 due to a requirement to carry a Guided Missile Training Round (GMTR) in order to test system functionality.

It is also equipped with a dud jettison function to eject a round overboard if it fails to fire.

Though the launcher was original armament on U.S. Navy Perry-class frigates (and their derivatives), in order to save costs on an obsolete system, by 2004 all active U.S. Navy vessels have had the system removed.

[citation needed] Due to the end of the US Navy's support of the Mark 13 missile launcher, support for the systems in Taiwanese service was taken up by the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology.