Torpedo in the water, or tank destroyer at sea

Here's a quick thought on the sinking of the Iranian frigate Dena as it relates to the US Navy's frigate program. One of the drivers of the latest plan to Get More Ships Yesterday is the FF(X), which is basically a modestly-up-gunned Coast Guard cutter. The theory is that these ships can go operate in "low threat" environments, freeing up more-capable ships to operate in "high threat" environments.

Well, from the perspective of what's left of the Iranian Navy, IRIS Dena was operating in a very low-threat environment, namely the east coast of India, returning from an exercise hosted by India. I'll leave others to argue about the legality of the US attack (I could argue either way) but clearly, "low threat" environments can quickly become "high threat." Or, if you paint it gray, somebody may just take a shot at it.