Small Fairmile Bs and Cs could not always carry the most capable radar, so a Captain-class command frigate coordinated their patrols and communications. Extra officers and communications personnel aboard the frigate could direct flotillas of motor gun boats and motor torpedo boats while the larger ship supplied gunfire and star-shell illumination. This distributed arrangement put the better sensor and command capacity on one platform without requiring every small boat to carry it. The aim was to push E-boats away from the Channel and protect the intense coastal convoy traffic needed to prepare the second front. The system succeeded more often than it failed, keeping severe losses from recurring.
Chapter · 41:03-43:28
Command frigates, radar control, and a Channel no-go zone
From 1943-44, a radar-equipped command frigate could direct flotillas of smaller boats, helping clear E-boats from vital coastal-convoy routes ahead of D-Day.