The practical scale given here starts with one hull as a white elephant, two providing a capability much of the time, and three normally guaranteeing one. Larger classes progressively improve resilience. A warship can only occupy one place, regardless of how powerful its sensors and weapons are. A sustainable peacetime cycle needs ships on task, in transit or work-up, and in refit, with saltwater maintenance impossible to skip indefinitely. Running a one-in-three deployment ratio in peacetime approaches wartime tempo and consumes both ships and crews faster than the fleet can recover.
Notable Point · 1:26:25-1:33:02
Why three powerful ships do not provide three deployable ships
Fleet numbers must cover operations, transit, training, and refit, so small classes produce fragile availability even when each new hull is much more capable than its predecessor.