What "Ship Types" Should Starfleet Have?

[SchwEnt]

Cruisers, for example, are not simply anti-air escorts, but can also perform anti-sub, anti-surface, and shore assault perfectly well.

That's just the thing, though: all combat vessels can do all of those nowadays, to varying degrees. The humblest corvette carries the same gear as the most glorious battle cruiser, with all the destroyers and frigates in between doing the same as well. It's just a matter of quantity, of size.

Timo Saloniemi

That's right. Exactly what Timo said.

Back in the day...destroyers, cruisers, carriers, escorts, battleships, battlecruisers, etc. had distinct abilities and qualities regarding speed, armament, defenses, and so on.
But as you say, today it's all much the same. Just a matter of quantity and size. The distinction today becomes much less relevant and necessary.

Perhaps TOS era is like the WWII era with different ship types having very different features and qualities.
And TNG era is like our classification today, much less pertinent.