More Type 45s and the fleet availability problem

Is current Royal Navy procurement producing bad ships, or simply too few of them?

Mostly too few; larger orders of existing designs, especially Type 45, would improve readiness, maintenance, and escort availability.

The recommended procurement priority is to order more of the existing designs. Nine to twelve Type 45 destroyers, with Mark 41 cells incorporated from the start, would create a different level of capability. A twelve-ship class could support four deployed ships, four in training or transit, and four in refit. Roughly two more could be made available from the training and transit group, giving about six available when needed. More hulls would also reduce repeated surges by the same ships and the resulting maintenance backlog. Carrier deployments would consequently compete with fewer other demands for scarce escorts.