Why the generational examples lean toward benchmark navies

Why are the ideal-destroyer examples so heavily Western?

The ships are benchmarks for desired capabilities, not perfect designs; navies leading technology or building the largest fleets provide useful period standards, while other systems can still be capable.

Every selected class has drawbacks, and an ideal design changes with national requirements. The Royal Navy dominates the earliest examples because its production volume and variety provide broad comparisons, while the United States later supplies a leading technological and fleet benchmark. Spruance's complicated layout and maintenance demands would still pose problems for another navy adopting it. A navy building only a few ships can afford extra refinement, whereas the cost of additional equipment multiplies across a mass programme. The criticism of the modern Royal Navy is that equipment omissions still assume a large fleet whose other ships can cover the gaps. A small fleet has greater reason to build general-purpose capability into each hull.