HMS Captain's lesson extends to modern enthusiasm for small uncrewed surface vessels. Their usefulness and future potential do not erase basic hull and wave constraints. Systems that work in the Black Sea face a different wave profile in the North or South Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans. Many small craft can be lost to ordinary waves rather than exceptional storms. Procurement must therefore distinguish a weapon's success in one operating area from proof that it can transit, persist, and fight in another. Seakeeping is an operational requirement rather than a secondary engineering detail.
Notable Point · 2:04:06-2:05:30
Why Black Sea drones do not prove open-ocean endurance
Small uncrewed surface vessels can be tactically effective in sheltered waters without possessing the seakeeping needed for routine Atlantic, Pacific, or Indian Ocean operations.