Historical Atlantic convoys were organised chiefly around the submarine threat, with aircraft such as the Fw 200 Condor usually helping U-boats rather than defeating a convoy alone. A Flower-class corvette could protect merchants from submarines but had no credible answer to a German surface task force. Britain would therefore need new routing, heavier covering forces, and faster concentration against a threat able to attack several targets. Escorts would also make German capital ships less vulnerable than Bismarck, Scharnhorst, or Admiral Graf Spee were on unsupported historical sorties. The same task forces could meet returning auxiliary raiders and cover their passage back toward German-controlled waters.
Chapter · 1:16:51-1:20:03
Convoys would face a mixed surface and submarine threat
German task forces would force Britain to redesign convoy routes and escorts because corvettes built for anti-submarine work could not stop battleships, cruisers, and destroyers.