After Dunkirk and the fall of France, coastal convoys became a major part of Britain's infrastructure during the invasion scare and Battle of Britain. Numerous ports were needed both to unload imports and to spread them around the country. Rail and road networks helped, but they could not absorb every bulk movement required by wartime industry. Protecting merchant shipping in home waters was therefore directly connected to keeping shipyards supplied and the wider war economy functioning.
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Coastal convoys keep Britain's war economy moving
Britain relied on coastal shipping to distribute imported materials between ports when road and rail capacity could not carry the whole wartime load.