As an enterprise we need to deliver naval combatants that can pack the biggest punch for the lowest cost whilst taking the strategic advantage of emerging and developing technologies. Modularity has been hailed as a key enabler in achieving this due to increasing requirements for the use of off-board systems, uncrewed assets, and the need to re-role naval combatants. Terms such as modular, adaptable, flexible, and reconfigurable have been used in the context of warship design for decades, but what is meant by these is sometimes confusing. As an enterprise we need to learn the lessons of their adoption to repeat the good and stop the bad. In the current climate where the threat is fast evolving and highly diverse the need to operate ships that can maximise capability across several different and often conflicting missions is highly desirable. The conflict in Ukraine along with recent issues in the Red Sea, show how traditional methods of war fighting and protection of commercial routes is in danger of becoming cost ineffective. For example, it is not economical to expend million-dollar missiles for the defence against small low-cost drones. How does this relate to requirements for further modularity and reconfigurability, and does flexibility and adaptability play a part in solving these issues? This paper looks to discuss modularity and reconfigurability along with key enablers such as adaptability and flexibility, to establish what this means for design and associated impacts on the holistic cost of capability. It aims to promote the use and standardisation of definitions in the context of modern naval ship design and explore the breadth of these features to expose how a holistic approach to integrating systems is required to ensure they remain more than buzz words. If collective enterprise-wide agreement can be sort in defining what is truly meant by modularity and reconfigurability, a more collaborative and coherent wholeship design approach can be provided to increase efficiency when implementing these adaptability and re-configurability paths.