A rough 10,000-ton comparison shows how every small ship must duplicate propulsion, services, and crew facilities. Five 2,000-ton hulls may spend about half their combined displacement on machinery and hotel services before weapons and sensors are fitted. A single larger hull can devote a much greater share to payload, including aviation, and may require eight small ships to approach its aggregate capability. The larger ship is therefore more potent, but it can occupy only one place, leaving fleet planners to trade concentrated capability against distributed presence.
Chapter · 6:36-9:32
Why five small ships do not equal one large ship
Repeated machinery and accommodation costs leave a group of small hulls with less payload than one ship of equal aggregate displacement.