How Type 45 overuse created a readiness debt

Repeated periods with three or four of six Type 45s deployed draw heavily on the ships normally returning or working up and create later maintenance problems. HMS Daring's first-of-class faults require a major refit in the account given here, with that work and its budget repeatedly deferred. The criticism of excessive deployments extends across successive governments. A larger destroyer force could also have reduced pressure on ageing Type 23 frigates by taking missions that did not require the frigates' specialised antisubmarine equipment. In this assessment, too few destroyers therefore worsened both destroyer availability and the difficulty of preserving frigate service lives until replacements arrived.