The loss of economies of scale drove up the cost of the individual ships.
I guess it just doesn’t occur to them that it would
work the other way round.
We would have lost WW II. at this rate.
Another problem nobody is talking about is the reduced crew size.
Sure, fewer crew makes it far cheaper to keep a ship in the water during peacetime, but when the excrement hits the ventilator, you need twice as many folks aboard so the ship can continue fighting while damage control is in process.
The bullets don’t stop flying while you’re trying to keep the ship afloat, and you can’t fight if the crew is all shoring bulkheads and patching holes.