The counterfactual identifies Congress as the obstacle to adequate American destroyer orders in peacetime. The criticism is that legislators fund large wartime batches but buy only enough ordinary destroyers in peace to claim the capability exists. Its 1938 example argues that ordering even half the Navy's requested ships would have avoided the shortage at the beginning of American participation in the Second World War. Those extra destroyers need only have been adequate, rather than exceptional, to make the difference. Later mass orders could not supply ships immediately because construction took another eighteen months to two years. Large destroyers are expected to attract more support once they acquire the visibility of status assets, leaving the projected force short of less prominent hulls.
Notable Point · 53:23-57:11
American destroyer procurement favours prestige over numbers
Congress is likely to underfund ordinary destroyer numbers in peacetime while finding larger, more visible destroyer leaders easier to support.