Estimates exceed 200 destroyers and 200 naval trawlers entering service, although requisitions, losses, returns to owners, and reused names make exact totals difficult. The 284 Flower-class corvettes were built so widely and served under so many flags that even their apparently firm total requires care. Another 151 River-class frigates added to the escort force. Together with other types, Royal Navy and Commonwealth service exceeded a thousand little ships. The numbers reveal the industrial and organizational scale required to patrol routes, escort convoys, hunt submarines, and maintain local naval presence across a global war.
Notable Point · 42:04-44:47
A thousand little ships sustained the Royal Navy and Commonwealth war effort
Destroyers, trawlers, Flower-class corvettes, and River-class frigates created a small-warship fleet whose scale dwarfed the better-known capital-ship force.