Wartime orders and simplified emergency destroyers

The J, K, and N destroyers continued established British designs and construction practice during the war. The early urgency described here concerned aircraft carriers and escort numbers, while Hunt-, Flower-, and Black Swan-type escorts were already coming into service. Fleet destroyer orders could initially repeat the existing design without stripping out its features. The distinction drawn is that a true emergency build deliberately simplifies the ship so it can be produced more quickly. Ordering a prewar design during wartime does not meet that definition by itself. Dutch crews preferred the more complete fleet-destroyer designs because their capability and intended use fitted Dutch training better than the later simplified ships.