Shrinking fleets consume their own readiness

Type 23 and Type 45 reductions illustrate how cutting hulls erodes both visible presence and the maintenance margin needed to keep ships deployable. The Royal Navy moved from plans for twenty-four Type 23s and twelve Type 45s to much smaller built and active fleets. Commitments did not fall in proportion, so commanders covered gaps by deferring maintenance, crew rest, and collective training. Repeated emergency tasking then wore ships out faster and left more of them unavailable at the same time. The apparent economy therefore produces an empty cupboard precisely when government requests an urgent response, while also weakening long-term warfighting readiness.