A Fourth Sea Lord responsible for trade protection and logistics could introduce convoys earlier by using organizations already established on both sides of the Atlantic and at Dominion bases. Staff in South Africa could assemble northbound convoys, while Gibraltar and Mediterranean arrangements would respond to the Austrian submarine threat. India could even take responsibility for organizing Mediterranean convoys. Local destroyers, cruisers, and possible sloops would give regional staffs escorts to work with. Implementing prewar trade-protection studies early could reduce submarine success and Germany's hope of forcing Britain out of the war, although that would not settle how long the land war lasted.
Notable Point · 2:09:34-2:14:37
Earlier convoys and a more resilient imperial network
Putting trade protection beside logistics makes early convoy organization more likely across the Atlantic, Mediterranean, Indian Ocean, and South Atlantic.