It looks like the Brits are borrowing a page from the USN book, which is to call a Cruiser a Destroyer. Congress will not fund Cruisers, since they are so costly, but will fund the "cheaper" (1 billion +) "Destroyers".
The USN Frigate is more in line with a DD. Our DDGs are equivalent to a WWII Light Cruiser in size (displacement differs because of armor plate, non-existent on the new DDGs).
All modern warships (bar carriers and auxillaries) are effectively light cruisers in size (if not function).
The Royal navy differs from the US in still assigning designations to warships based on FUNCTION, not size.
To the RN, a “destroyer” is something that is principally designed to shoot down aircraft. A “frigate” is something that primarily hunts submarines.
It looks like the Brits are borrowing a page from the USN book, which is to call a Cruiser a Destroyer. Congress will not fund Cruisers, since they are so costly, but will fund the "cheaper" (1 billion +) "Destroyers".
Traditionally, "cruisers" weighed in at 17,000 tons, twice the size of HMS Daring.
Our C.O. on the USS Long Beach (CGN-9), 15,500 tons, liked to refer to the ship as "the only real cruiser in the Navy" as the Virginia class cruisers had the displacement of traditional frigates and the Ticonderoga class cruisers had the displacement of traditional destroyers.