Offboard anti-submarine screening completes the hybrid design

Instead of towing its own sonar array, the capital ship could send multiple uncrewed surface vehicles ahead in leapfrog patterns, each towing an array while others reposition. Helicopters and drones with dipping sonar would add more layers and make a submarine approach increasingly hazardous. Those offboard sensors form part of a wider defensive suite built from missiles, guns, armor, and deployable systems. The final concept is a roughly 40,000-ton hybrid: armored like a battleship, missile-heavy like an arsenal ship, sensor-rich like a modern surface combatant, and modular like Denmark's Absalon class, with a relatively small crew enabled by automation.