Hunt-class destroyers as dedicated escorts

The Hunt class is the preferred destroyer escort in this comparison because it was purpose-built for the role rather than adapted from a fleet destroyer. Its ancestry lay in the Bittern-class sloop, giving it a common design parent with the Black Swan class. The Hunt carried the equipment required for escort service: twin four-inch mountings, a quad two-pounder anti-aircraft mount, depth charges, and later weapons such as Hedgehog and Squid. The lack of torpedoes is part of the point: this ship was optimized to protect convoys rather than to act as a conventional offensive destroyer. Its familiar hull also proved receptive to wartime modification.