The counterfactual counts six ships discarded, immobilized, or dismantled from 1932 onward and tests the operational value they might have retained. An old sloop patrolling Scapa Flow might have complicated U-47's penetration, while another escort could have released a destroyer for Courageous or Ark Royal. Additional peacetime ASDic orders would also have sustained more manufacturing throughput for wartime expansion. Six old ships would not have decided the war. Their cheap local coverage could still have created options elsewhere in the fleet.
Notable Point · 43:33-48:11
What six extra sloops might have changed in 1939
Keeping six late-surviving Acacias could have added patrol coverage, released modern escorts, and expanded the industrial capacity available for ASDic production.