Indeed, not just the RN.
Prima facie evidence of what happens when you dither and defer programmes for replacements because you have institutionally forgotten how to conduct design programmes and therefore deem it "risky".
Those ships have been worked very hard for a late 70s design. Not helped by binning the early non-VLS ones in the noughties. Certification will be an ongoing nightmare, pouring money into a bottomless hole (or nearly bottomless hull......)