The C-class leader Kempenfelt was another step down in size amid Admiralty disagreement over how large destroyers should become. The design still incorporated ASDIC and depth-charge equipment, so economy did not remove the class's anti-submarine role. Ramsay MacDonald's government also cut half the planned flotilla in 1929 on the assumption that war was not imminent. Because destroyers were relatively small and inexpensive, the immediate saving was limited compared with the force-structure loss. All five ships later passed to Canada, and two were lost. Future procurement had to accompany equipment already available because a crisis could begin sooner than expected.
Notable Point · 20:06-22:31
The C-class and the cost of cutting a flotilla
An interwar belief that war was distant led the government to cut the C-class flotilla, reducing destroyer numbers for a modest immediate saving.