By the 1950s, missiles, nuclear power, and nuclear attack submarines were changing naval design, but the large conventional submarine fleet imposed a broader operational burden. Nuclear boats offered long-range, high-end capability and could operate worldwide. Diesel boats supplied the numbers, took targets themselves, screened ballistic-missile submarine bastions, and multiplied the value of scarcer nuclear units. That forced an opponent to distribute anti-submarine ships and training across many contacts. The Type 12 embodies the procurement problem: a fleet needed enough capable escorts for a numerous, less glamorous threat while still funding expensive high-end technology.
Notable Point · 11:44-13:25
The mass submarine threat behind postwar shipbuilding
The less glamorous contest between numerous diesel submarines and specialist escorts shaped postwar fleets as much as missiles and nuclear propulsion did.