Capital-ship narratives hide the work of escorts

The Royal Navy possessed only dozens of cruisers and still fewer battleships and carriers, yet those types dominate many accounts of the war at sea. A program may name the battleship in an operation while leaving its four destroyers unidentified and omitting the corvettes or other escorts entirely. Battle of the Atlantic histories are a partial exception because their subject forces attention onto convoy escorts. Elsewhere, the routine work of patrol, anti-submarine warfare, and local protection disappears behind the prestige of the capital ship. Recovering little-ship history changes fleet totals and explains how naval operations actually functioned.