Why Britain delayed building offshore patrol vessels

Why did the British government not build offshore patrol vessels sooner?

Because dedicated OPVs did not fit a Cold War doctrine that funded ships chiefly for combat against the Soviet Union.

Dedicated patrol vessels struggled to fit a Cold War procurement policy that judged ships by their usefulness against the Soviet Union. Fishery protection required ships even though it fell outside that narrow combat test. Delaying OPVs left the Royal Navy using combatants for work a patrol vessel could perform.