Forbes's objections altered the plan so the assault troops would travel in warships rather than transports. The embarkation orders specify troop numbers, stores, landing craft, Royal Marine howitzers, and ration scales. Southampton-class cruisers were especially useful because their davits could handle armoured landing craft, while destroyers and sloops carried smaller detachments. Destroyers carrying Canadians were to embark one hundred men with tents, blankets, and seven days' rations, whereas other destroyer detachments received only forty-eight hours' rations. A reserve brigade and naval-base staff would transfer from troopships to cruisers at Scapa Flow. The orders show how much an amphibious assault depended on shipping, stowage, transfer, and endurance.
Chapter · 5:48-7:55
Turning cruisers and destroyers into a landing force
The operational orders reveal how warships were allocated troops, stores, landing craft, artillery, and rations for the Norwegian expedition.