The return of the torpedo-boat tender as a drone mothership

Would an LHD customized to maintain drone boats at sea make sense as a command ship?

Yes. A converted amphibious ship could coordinate the boats and provide facilities for maintenance and rearming at sea.

A converted LHD, Albion, or Bulwark could serve as a command and maintenance ship for surface drones. Rearming the boats at sea would revive part of the torpedo-boat tender's role for a new generation of small combatants. A major combatant could also carry and support its own group of unmanned vessels. Under this proposal, Type 83 needs facilities to launch and recover sizeable surface drones as well as aerial vehicles. The crewed ship would coordinate those assets around itself as a mobile task group.