Q&A · 1:15:19-1:16:02

Why Canada should standardize a purpose-built destroyer program

A twelve-destroyer Canadian program would gain more from repeating one selected class than from ordering individual ships from several British classes.

Question

Should Canada have purpose-built a mixed group of interwar British destroyer classes instead of acquiring ships second-hand?

Short answer

Purpose-building would help, but Canada should choose one class and build a standardized run rather than produce one-off ships from many classes.

Notes

Purpose-building a mixed collection of C-, D-, E-, F-, G-, and H-class destroyers would reproduce many of the support problems of buying second-hand ships. A national program of roughly twelve vessels should select one suitable design and repeat it. That standardized run would simplify construction, training, maintenance, and spares.