Convoy protection for War Plan Orange's supply ships

Would dispersed supply shipping invite coordinated attacks by raiders and submarines?

The quoted account appears to omit convoys altogether. Merchant ships should remain convoyed to protect them.

A viewer suggests that a surface raider could scatter a convoy and leave isolated ships vulnerable to submarines. The apparent absence of convoys from the quoted plan leaves a more basic protection problem. Keeping merchant ships together in convoys is the proposed protection.