High operational tempo, not a weak class

The number of Tribal losses is not a simple verdict on the ships. Their speed, strength, seakeeping, and firepower repeatedly led commanders to assign them difficult or high-risk missions. The same ability to maintain speed in rough weather meant they were driven harder than smaller destroyers, producing machinery wear sometimes labelled 'Tribalitis.' Their maintenance record was partly the cost of being able to perform work that other ships could not sustain. Wartime losses and defects must be read alongside operational tempo and tasking rather than treated as design statistics in isolation.