Could earlier American escort orders have eased wartime expansion?

Did the pressure on American steel supply result from inadequate long-term planning and the navy wanting everything immediately?

Urgent orders and their timing contributed to the pressure. A larger escort programme in the 1930s is proposed as a way to develop yards and steel capacity earlier.

Clarke attributes the demand for immediate naval expansion partly to the orders received and the way Congress structured them. His counterfactual proposes a larger 1930s programme of escorts under 2,000 tons, below 20 knots and without torpedoes, alongside destroyer construction. Those orders could, in his assessment, have supported earlier growth in steel production and shipyards. Historically, the navy had to expand yards, develop the industry supplying them and enlarge the fleet at the same time. Fletcher-class ships entering service before earlier classes had finished production illustrate the overlapping expansion.