Suitability asks whether an old platform can still perform the task the navy now needs. HMS Victory and a Type 45 destroyer make the basic point that a celebrated ship is not automatically useful for a modern escort mission. Warships have grown because each hull is expected to perform more functions, yet an existing hull cannot create new internal volume. Converting some Type 23 frigates from anti-submarine work to general-purpose distant-station duties meant removing their towed sonar and other equipment. The space and weight released by those losses were needed for the stores, tools, systems, and people of the new mission.
Chapter · 29:24-31:11
New missions force hard space and weight choices
Watch how a new mission turns refit into subtraction: a Type 23 reassigned from anti-submarine work had to surrender systems and weight for distant-station duties.