accessing the missile in the middle launcher would make maintenance difficult. Changing requirements When the deployment of the Seaslug was first being considered, three classes of custom missile-firing ships were considered. The Task Force Ship would be capable of and would tasked with fleet air defence. The Ocean Convoy Escort was a vessel that would provide direct cover over seagoing convoys, while the Coastal Convoy Escort would do the same closer to shore. At that time it was believed that aircraft carriers would be able to provide adequate cover over convoys or fleets in the ocean, so attention turned to the Coastal Convoy Escort. Beginning in May 1953 a Beachy Head-class repair ship was converted into a prototype escort ship, , to test this fitting. For this role, the densest possible storage was required, so the initial design of a single booster rocket at the base end of the missile. This led to a very long design, as was the case for most contemporary designs, this was abandoned in favour of four smaller boosters wrapped around the fuselage, giving shorter overall length of about . The boosters were positioned so they lay within the diameter defined by the missile's wings, so they did not make it any larger in diameter when stored. If one of the boosters did not fire the thrust would be significantly off-axis, a possibility which was later addressed by moving the boosters forward so their exhaust was near the centre of gravity of the missile, allowing the missile's small control surfaces to remain effective. In contrast, the American Terrier missile was somewhat shorter at , but this required an additional tandem booster which took the overall length to . In 1954, during another review of the Navy's future operations, consideration turned from a "hot war" against the Soviets to a series of "warm wars" in the third world. Among other changes brought about by this review, including the cancellation of a future all-gun cruiser class and ending further conversion of WWII-era destroyers to Type 15 frigates, the new environment meant that air cover by carriers could not be guaranteed, and the need for air defence for task-force sized groups became the primary concern. A cut to carrier construction, capping the fleet at four, released funds for missile ship construction. In October 1954, a new design emerged that demanded the speed to keep up with a fleet