Modern River-class offshore patrol vessels provide the comparison because their basic gun-and-boat role depends more on durable hulls and machinery than on rapidly ageing technology. The case for retaining the Acacias rests on sound hulls, proven triple-expansion engines, adequate accommodation, and fittings that could be updated without redesigning the ship. ASDic could have been installed during normal hull maintenance, much as later Flower corvettes used comparable machinery. Coal propulsion also drew on a domestic British resource and avoided another demand on imported oil. Until replacements arrived, retained Acacias could have provided hulls around which reserve crews and local patrol forces developed.
Notable Point · 40:12-43:22
A practical ASDic modernization case
Reliable machinery, coal fuel, and simple fittings made retained Acacias plausible candidates for ASDic and reserve service before the next generation replaced them.