Lead ships usually have the least mature version of a class's design. Arleigh Burke, Daring, Nimitz, Gerald R. Ford, and Admiral Kuznetsov are cited as examples to examine through their service histories. Later ships benefit from experience unavailable when the first hull was built. The same caution applies to the first class embodying a new generation of ideas: it carries the initial attempt to make those ideas work together.
Notable Point · 3:56:51-3:57:44
Why first-in-class warships are usually the weakest
Lead ships reveal integration problems that later hulls can correct, making the first example of a new generation unusually vulnerable to design immaturity.