The missed opportunity to mass-produce treaty-exempt sloops

Continuous sloop construction from 1930 could have created a large modern escort force before the Second World War. One illustration matches Britain's annual destroyer programme with eighteen sloops while spreading additional construction to Canada, Australia and India. Turbine orders for these ships could sustain machinery production useful to destroyers and smaller warships across the Commonwealth. Sloops also offered hulls comparable in size to later Flower-class corvettes and River-class frigates, with related designs useful for the Hunt-class escort destroyers. Sustained orders would require more ASDIC equipment and could ease sonar and turbine bottlenecks in peacetime. Spreading the work among yards could support employment during the Depression while expanding production of twin 4-inch mounts for ships carrying six guns. Extra sloops could reinforce carrier escorts during submarine hunts and local patrols around Scapa Flow. In the latter example, a denser patrol force might have made the penetration that sank Royal Oak harder to accomplish.