Cable allows that cheaper ships can be effective when their task and the tactics of likely opponents are understood correctly. Missile patrol craft can threaten larger and more expensive warships, while Second World War corvettes successfully protected convoys against submarines. Those examples leave a need for more complex ships on other missions. Sophistication often buys versatility, and a small navy has less room to maintain many separate specialized types. His objection to excessive simplification concerns the strategic options lost with the money saved.
Notable Point · 2:42:10-2:43:54
When cheaper, simpler warships can do the job
Missile boats and wartime corvettes illustrate effective simple ships, while Cable argues that a small fleet still needs versatility.