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Even Churchill wasn't entirely negative about fascism, Hitler his gang (just) before the war.
Even if they had the training to bomb ships at sea at night (which they hadn't) they still have to find them firstAnyway, with illumination Ju 88s and Ju 87s could be used against the RN.
The E-boats tactic of choice was to sneak up to the enemy ships, fire their torpedoes, and then run away as quickly as possible....I don't think the invasion forces they are supposed to be defending would be too impressed with the 'running away' bit.And E-boats, like during the D-day invasion exercises.
The RN would only need to dominate the Channel at night to defeat the invasion, they wouldn't even need to sink that many ships, just the disruption they would cause would be enough to tip the balance.It seems to me that the Royal Navy could be destroyed from the air - just see what losses they inflicted on British ships during Battle of Crete, BUT it would take several days and the Royal Navy would have to stay in the Channel, which seems unlikely.
Kris
It should be noted that RN warships made regular patrols of the Channel at night throughout the Battle Of Britain
ps. Its often claimed that the Luftwaffe stopped the British running convoys through the Channel at the begining of the battle, but in fact after the heavy daytime convoys losses in the Channel earlier in the battle, the British merely re-timed the convoys to travel through the Dover Straits at night.
Using unseaworthy craft to mount and sustain an invasion is just putting the survival of an entire army at the mercy of natural elements.
3,000 miscellaneous vessels and not one of them actually designed for the purpose. The British wouldn't be firing at them as the waterlogged, sea sick German soldiers hauled their bedraggled selves ashore, they'd be offering them seasickness pills, a clean towel and a stiff drink! "'Ere you go mate, 'ave this, you'll feel better in a coupla days. Shame about the weather eh?!"
Do you think the British would have actually fired on them or would they have just sailed around and through them with cruisers and destroyers and sunk them with their wakes?
Oh, definitely wakes............
That sort of behaviour is far too ungentlemanly, besides, the admirals might spill their Pimms' on their tunics and we can have that, eh wat! Far more sporting to watch the Germans flail about miserably in the water and discuss how they would have done it if they were in the Germans' shoes...
The Channel is noted for its strong tides, especially in the area around the Dover Strait, where the German's intended to invade.What are the tides like?
how fast and how high
-Source Channel TidesThe Dover Strait is renowned for having strong tidal flows with a large rise and fall in water from high to low tide. There are two types of tide, the 'EBB' tide and the 'FLOOD' tide.
Ebb Tide: This tide comes from the North East down the Channel towards Folkestone. It begins 4.5 hours after high water to 2 hours before high water (Dover).
Flood Tide: Travels up the Channel from the South West towards the North Sea. It occurs 1.5 hours before high tide to 4.5 hours after high water (Dover).
An important factor in tidal control is the moon. When the sun, moon and earth are aligned the tides are at their maximum strength and are known as SPRING tides. When the moon is at 90° to the earth, we have weak tides called NEAP tides. The tides alternate in a two weekly cycle. High water during spring tides is at roughly midday and midnight (GMT) and high water during Neaps is in the region of 6am and 6pm (GMT). The mean height for a high water Spring tide is 6.8 metres and a Neap tide is 5.3 metres.
Oh, definitely wakes............
After they ran out of ammunition, depth charges, torpedoes.....and boarding cutlasses
For me, the crucial question of Sealion is not whether the Royal Navy could have defeated the Channel crossing (which I believe they comprehensively would have, purely on weight on numbers) but the logistics of the whole operation.
A German light infantry division consumed around 150-200 tonnes of supplies per day and around 400 tons while in heavy combat. A motorised/mechanised division consumed around 300 tons per day, a German armoured division consumed around 300 to 350 tons of supplies. An armoured division could consume up to 700 tons per day if it was in heavy combat.
For the Germans to supply the nine infantry and 2 airborne divisions put across in the first wave they have to land somewhere between 2200 tons per day (assuming 200 tons per day for light combat) and 4400 tons per day (assuming 400 tons per day for heavy combat).
In their anti-invasion preparations, the British thought that the Germans would have to bring across around 3300 tons per day, a round figure of 300 tons per division.
The port capacity in the Sealion invasion area was around 1400 tons per day, when at full capacity. The British plans were to wreck the port facilities in the event of a landing, which was expected to have the effect of cutting capacity to around 150 tons per week (one twentieth of estimated supply needed) in the first week, increasing to about 800 tons by the end of the second week.
Even if the German army achieves a coup de main and captures the port facilities intact (a highly unlikely scenario), it is still required to land somewhere close to 1900 tons (assuming the mean figure of 3300 tons per day) over open beaches without port facilities. Without the British Army, Royal Air Force or Royal Navy interfering. Or the weather.
To think Sealion has a reasonable chance of success, even with Fighter Command reduced to almost nothing, is wilfull denial of the evidence of the highest order.
The number of vessels sunk or lost during the evacuation was 94, of which 51 are credited in full or part to the Luftwaffe, of the remaining 130 or so losses these were nearly all small civilian vessels abandoned at Dunkirk at the end of the operation due to the risk involved in attempting to tow them back across the Channel.Six British and three French destroyers were sunk (5 by air, 2 by E-boat, 1 each by mines and U-Boat), along with nine large boats. In addition, 19 destroyers were damaged.[18] Over 200 of the Allied sea craft were sunk, with an equal number damaged.[32]