The danger of building a navy only for wars of choice

Have modern navies become unbalanced in their numbers of escorts and other ships?

Yes; the deeper problem is too few ships after years of planning as though governments could always choose when to fight.

The imbalance is described as too few ships overall rather than merely the wrong ratio of frigates to destroyers. A larger planned Royal Navy - with more Type 45s, the full Type 23 force, sufficient Astute submarines, three carriers, retained Harriers, and timely F-35 procurement - could already have a worked-up carrier group exercising in the Norwegian Sea. That presence would signal capability without the escalatory appearance of deploying directly into a crisis zone. The missed opportunity comes from force planning built around discretionary interventions, which neglected the possibility that an adversary could choose the time and place of confrontation.