Churchill's First World War experience had taught him that the navy needed pressure to produce enough escorts. The Royal Navy had also absorbed that lesson and ordered Hunt-class destroyers, Flower-class corvettes, Black Swan-class sloops, and other small ships before the expected war. Those orders formed part of preparations for a conflict anticipated in 1942 or later. The criticism here concerns histories that present prewar orders as wartime emergency measures initiated by Churchill. Orders placed months before his return to the Admiralty cannot establish that his construction pause created the program.
Notable Point · 38:17-40:53
The Royal Navy had already applied the First World War escort lesson
Prewar Hunt, Flower, and Black Swan orders challenge the claim that Churchill's wartime intervention created the escort program.