The procurement arithmetic begins with the roughly eighteen months needed to design and build a batch of sloops. Orders begun in 1935 might yield about three annual batches, or an illustrative fifty-four ships, by the outbreak of war. Starting in 1932 could add three more batches and raise that example to roughly 108 escorts. The earlier date depends on abandoning the interwar ten-year assumption and persuading governments led by Ramsay MacDonald or Stanley Baldwin to spend the money. Even then, the ships would need crews and retrofits as ASDIC and other anti-submarine technology improved. Earlier procurement meaningfully increases capacity without creating an effortless or perfectly modern escort fleet.
Notable Point · 1:01:36-1:06:14
How an earlier sloop programme changes escort totals
Starting regular sloop orders in 1932 rather than 1935 could roughly double an illustrative prewar total, but construction and modernization still limit the gain.