Fast transports, Norway, and the need for amphibious lift

The Glen ships were initially intended to move personnel rapidly to France as fast transports. Their conversion into LSIs began before the 1940 collapse in the west, so the decision cannot simply be explained as a reaction to France's defeat. The timing fits Anglo-German competition over Norway and the North Atlantic approaches. Britain saw a German move into Norway as a threat to blockade strategy and Atlantic access, while Germany saw Norwegian bases as a route around British pressure. The episode demonstrates why a deployable amphibious force had strategic value even before the campaigns usually associated with large Allied landings.