A familiar hull made the Hunt design easier to trust

The Bittern hull provided a foundation for the Hunt class, and the Admiralty had an unusual source of confidence in the design. Enchantress, the Admiralty yacht, belonged to the same design family, so admirals had direct experience of its behavior and capabilities. Her institutional role gave senior officers a reason to keep examining the type and gave the Director of Naval Construction repeated opportunities to gather high-level reactions. Exercises could also employ Enchantress in destroyer-escort roles that an ordinary small ship might not otherwise receive. The visible design space where torpedo launchers might have gone also shows that the possibility was considered even though the ships were completed without them. That familiarity helped make a known hull form a credible basis for the Hunt class.