The design question is whether each ship should have the best chance of winning its own battle or whether the fleet should have the best chance of winning the war. Aggregate strength changes the answer. Several adequate ships can matter more than one individually superior hull when the fleet must fight repeated actions. Speed, survivability, cost, and numbers therefore become strategic choices rather than a search for the strongest single ship.
Notable Point · 35:24-36:56
Designing ships for battles or wars
A design aside distinguishes a ship optimized to win each battle from a fleet built to win the wider war.