The modern-design problem is that a useful anti-ship missile often reaches far beyond the coastline the ship is supposed to defend. Once a small warship can strike hundreds of miles away, it no longer reads as a purely local deterrent. Adding air defence, guns, and enough missile capacity quickly pushes the design toward a corvette or frigate rather than a classic coastal defence ship.
Chapter ยท 2:01:46-2:02:43
Why missiles complicate the modern coastal-defence ship
A modern comparison explains why long-range missiles blur the line between coastal defence and offensive reach.