Why the S class was not an austerity destroyer

The S class belonged administratively to the Royal Navy's Fifth Emergency Flotilla, but the distinction drawn here turns on construction standards. Its design descended from the J class, and its lighter armament reflected availability rather than a deliberate effort to lighten or simplify the hull. Under this definition, an emergency destroyer was a design deliberately simplified for faster wartime construction. The progression through later British classes eventually reached the C class, described as built to merchant standards. That makes the C class the clearest example of an emergency design in this argument. The S class retained the kind of fleet-destroyer qualities the Dutch wanted despite its place within an emergency programme.