Cruiser-sized destroyers may become USV motherships

The closing design prompt asks what capabilities a destroyer needs against the threats it is expected to face. A ship carrying hundreds of VLS cells would displace many thousands of tons and function more like a cruiser. Separately, the thousand- to two-thousand-ton roles once filled by destroyers, frigates, and sloops may pass to uncrewed surface vessels. The Type 83 discussion proposes a landing-ship-dock approach, illustrated by a San Antonio-derived ballistic-missile-defence concept. In this proposal, USVs of perhaps up to 100 tons could dock inside the parent ship for repair and rearming. Those smaller docked craft are distinct from the larger uncrewed escort roles discussed earlier. The concept pairs a large crewed command-and-combat ship with smaller uncrewed assets.