Submarine minelaying shaped Royal Navy escorts

Royal Navy planners studying World War I judged mine-laying submarines highly effective for the resources and crew risk involved. They expected a future opponent to repeat that method, so interwar sloops routinely incorporated minesweeping gear. The Flower class and other small World War II escort programmes consequently began as minesweeper orders rather than as purpose-built convoy escorts. The lineage shows how lessons from one submarine threat shaped ships that became famous for answering another.