A British rocket-delivered Sting Ray and the VLS question

Why did the Royal Navy not develop an ASROC-like weapon using Sting Ray?

Development effort and funding are part of the explanation, alongside an explicitly speculative link between larger launch cells, ship versatility and resistance to fleet cuts.

The question proposes an ASROC-like weapon using Sting Ray, but the response develops a larger rocket-delivered torpedo and the launcher it would require. A long cell could also accommodate Tomahawk, linking the ASW proposal to broader surface-ship strike capability. The absence of such a programme is attributed partly to the effort and funding required. Clarke also offers an explicitly cynical interpretation: more versatile Type 23 and Type 45 ships would have been harder to cut, potentially supporting fleets of twenty-four and at least twelve respectively. He regards surface-ship and submarine Tomahawk capability as compatible rather than mutually exclusive.