Sloops, the Littoral Combat Ship, and forgotten design precedents

The Royal Navy's 1920s sloop requirements closely resemble the later Littoral Combat Ship's aims once the LCS high-speed requirement is set aside. The sloop was intended as an affordable, flexible vessel whose own crew could change its equipment for minesweeping, anti-submarine work, gunboat service or diplomatic duties. Clarke links the LCS speed requirement to an intended role escorting carriers during rapid moves between theatres, and objects to using it as a carrier's sole escort. In his comparison, flotillas of flexible ships make more sense: convoys and hunter-killer groups already depended on ships exchanging information and dividing the work. Changes in equipment give these groups new options, while cooperation still depends on communication and listening to other ships.