The discussion briefly turns from aircraft to a prewar anti-submarine procurement counterfactual. Admirals including Reginald Henderson wanted Black Swan-class or similar sloops built alongside destroyers, but funding forced a choice between the two categories. Two sloop flotillas ordered each year from 1935 might have produced roughly seventy-two prepared convoy escorts by the outbreak of war. Beyond the ships themselves, regular orders would also have trained yards and expanded the industrial base for faster wartime production. The example connects procurement decisions made in peace to the escort capacity available in the opening Battle of the Atlantic.
Notable Point · 1:41:47-1:43:15
A Black Swan sloop programme could have transformed early-war convoy escort
Two annual flotillas of purpose-built anti-submarine sloops from 1935 might have eased Britain's 1939 escort shortage.