The wartime construction programs left enough destroyers that fleet numbers remained comparatively secure into the 1930s. This depth was unusual within the U.S. Navy, whose capital ships and cruisers lacked a comparable reserve. Senior officers could develop methods and carry out operations knowing that another destroyer could be brought out of storage if something went wrong. The assessment here is that replacements could be available before officers had settled the financial argument with the Treasury or Congress.
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Reserve destroyers gave the U.S. Navy room to develop and operate
The four-stacker surplus supplied a depth of replacements that the U.S. Navy lacked in capital ships and cruisers.