One alternative to cancelling the later Type 45s would have retained twelve hulls while changing the role of six. The suggested land-attack ships would carry 48 Mark 41 cells for Tomahawks and retain provision for Sylver launchers. Their exact radar fit remains uncertain: the discussion considers less capable sensors, then reconsiders which radar is visible in a variant illustration. They would not necessarily have matched the air-defence capability of the original Type 45 arrangement. Additional hulls could still have shared command duties, exercises, and deployments with the air-defence destroyers. They would also have eased some of the demands on Type 23 frigates.
Chapter · 1:31:44-1:33:24
Six land-attack variants could have retained a twelve-hull programme
A hypothetical mix of six air-defence destroyers and six Mark 41-armed land-attack ships could have preserved hull numbers and distributed fleet duties.