Destroyer conversions could supply two decades of frigate service

How long would a Royal Navy force of Type 62, Type 15, and Type 16 frigates remain useful?

About twenty to twenty-five years in normal service, with rebuilt destroyers serving effectively in the less demanding frigate role.

Ordinary service life is distinguished from survival under combat conditions. For routine Royal Navy duty, a force built around Type 15 and Type 16 anti-submarine conversions could last about twenty to twenty-five years. The rebuilds renewed machinery and systems while downgrading wartime destroyers into a less demanding frigate role, making them cheaper than entirely new ships. Type 62 was a proposed fast aircraft-direction frigate rather than another completed conversion. Had it been built, a similar career ending around the 1960s is considered likely.