Type 26 numbers versus the Type 83 air-defense need

Should Britain order another batch of Type 26 frigates?

More would help, but starting Type 83 air-defense destroyers may take priority because that capability is scarcer.

A third Type 26 batch could bring the class toward twelve hulls, the preferred total in this assessment. Type 83 construction also needed to start promptly because Type 45 experience showed strong demand for air-defense ships. Both programs would depend on the same yard capacity for high-end surface warships. The small Queen Elizabeth class provided another example of the limits on availability when a fleet has very few ships of a type. On that basis, Type 83 was expected to take priority.