Royal Navy language can make a major refit sound less radical than it is. Type 23 work illustrates the scale: external plating is removed, thicker steel fitted, and internal structure strengthened to carry the renewed hull. Machinery, sensors, and other systems can also be replaced while the ship retains its legal identity and name. The result is a reconstruction that extends service life through extensive renewal, showing why age measured only from the original launch date can misrepresent a modernized warship's material condition.
Notable Point · 1:16:09-1:17:14
A major refit can amount to rebuilding the ship
Royal Navy major refits can replace so much hull structure and equipment that the original ship becomes largely a legal identity.