Why placing HMS Echo in low readiness was a mistake

Was placing HMS Echo in mothballs or low readiness a sensible decision?

No. An already small survey force could not readily spare such a flexible and recently active ship.

Putting HMS Echo into mothballs was described as an unsound decision. She entered low-readiness status in May 2022 despite recent work supporting Ukraine, fishery protection, and the search for MH370. With the survey fleet already contracted, losing access to one flexible hull reduces both geographic presence and specialist search capacity. Reserve status is therefore a force-structure decision rather than a merely administrative change.