The high-low fleet balance behind the Type 23

Keith Speed identifies the tension between ships sophisticated enough to survive the Soviet threat and enough affordable hulls to cover naval commitments. Comparable NATO warships were not obviously cheaper because their complexity answered the same improving threat. The proposed alternatives include simpler ships based on merchant hulls to carry anti-submarine helicopters and a smaller, cheaper successor to the Type 22. That frigate still had to make a proper contribution to Atlantic anti-submarine warfare while economizing on cost and manpower. The Type 23 concept therefore depended on reducing complexity without producing a ship that could no longer perform its wartime role.