Destroyer quality cannot erase a four-to-one gap

A destroyer-only fleet would be as unbalanced as a battleship line without screens. Destroyers could not supply the heavy fighting core or great-power status that capital ships provided in this period. The opposite error was assuming that superior quality could cancel a numerical deficit. Against foreign destroyers of similar tonnage and armament, one excellent American ship could not reliably replace four. The comparison keeps the argument centered on balance and sufficient numbers rather than a preferred ship type.