The high-low fleet mix aimed to combine exceptional combatants with affordable numbers. Zumwalt's proposals included the troubled Sea Control Ship concept, the Pegasus-class hydrofoils, and the Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates. The full planned fleet of one hundred Pegasus boats was never built, but the Perry class became one of the most numerous American warship designs built after the Second World War. These different outcomes leave the same force-structure lesson: a navy needs usable mass as well as technological peaks.
Notable Point · 30:10-31:23
Zumwalt's high-low fleet mix
Zumwalt's alternatives to an all-high-end fleet include the Sea Control Ship, Pegasus hydrofoils, and the numerous Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates.