Common Type 23s offered more value than a small Type 22 remnant

Should the Royal Navy have retained its last Type 22 frigates?

Keeping all sixteen Type 23s would have been a better use of resources than supporting a small, heavily used Type 22 group.

The preferred alternative retains all sixteen Type 23s instead of selling three while keeping a small Type 22 group. A small surviving class is particularly easy to eliminate in a later savings exercise, whereas sixteen similar frigates provide a larger force around which to organise availability. Type 22 hulls are described as robust, closer to the Type 26 in that respect than to the lighter Type 23. Their heavy Royal Navy service still limits the value of extending their lives. Continued service abroad does not establish that the same ships could withstand an equally long Royal Navy career.