Minesweeping, Denmark, and the route into the Baltic

The practical sequence begins after attacks on Wilhelmshaven and Kiel have weakened the High Seas Fleet. Trawlers and cork-filled pre-dreadnoughts could lead mine-clearance efforts while carrier aircraft strike submarines in harbor and sanitize the approach. Passage through Danish waters would compromise Danish neutrality and expose Denmark to German attack, so the British might have to warn and reinforce the country. Kiel, rather than Hamburg, is the likely German refuge because it has the maintenance and operating infrastructure needed to sustain the fleet. The revised plan combines geography, basing, minesweeping, anti-submarine warfare, and air attack instead of relying on a single breakthrough ship type.