Shrinking fleets drive a capability-and-cost spiral

Cutting ship numbers to reduce spending can require each remaining hull to perform more tasks. Adding those capabilities raises unit cost, which makes ships harder to buy in quantity and drives another round of reductions. The result is a vicious circle of shrinking numbers and rising complexity, helping explain the move from large flotillas to smaller formations of more powerful ships. Finance belongs within a wider assessment of risk. That assessment must include the risks of overspending and concentrating too many resources in one area.