Why destroyers were flotilla assets and cruisers independent ships

Interwar destroyers were usually treated as numerical assets whose full value appeared when they formed an eight-ship flotilla. Wartime losses could shrink the useful tactical unit to four ships, creating more formations and distributing command responsibility. A cruiser, by contrast, was expected to remain a viable independent unit for distant or detached operations. The early Condottieri approached the lower limit of what could still perform that role, while French contre-torpilleurs remained fleet destroyers despite their size and firepower. This force-structure distinction explains why calling the Capitani Romani cruisers implied missions and opponents that their destroyer-like protection did not suit.