Corvettes, frigates, and the cost of more hulls

Should Finland's new ships be called frigates rather than corvettes?

Names should follow the ship's role, and force planners must balance hull numbers against the duplicated equipment and reduced capability of very small vessels.

Mission, rather than displacement alone, distinguishes a small multirole corvette, an anti-submarine frigate, an air-defence destroyer, and a larger general-purpose cruiser. Multiplying small ships also repeats expensive engines, radar, communications, and accommodation. More hulls can improve presence, but each may have less room for the combat systems that make a warship useful.