Q&A ยท 1:21:01-1:22:32

Torpedo boats would threaten Germany's Norwegian reinforcement chain

The Norway answer favors a mature coastal weapon that can repeatedly disrupt German landings over an implausibly early missile program.

Question

Would Norway have endangered the 1940 German invasion more with early anti-ship missiles or with many torpedo boats?

Short answer

Torpedo boats are the more credible and dangerous choice because Norway could build and support them, and dispersed flotillas could attack both the initial landings and the successive convoys needed to reinforce them.

Notes

German forces might destroy torpedo boats at Narvik or Trondheim while leaving other flotillas along the coast able to attack. Those surviving boats could converge on successive reinforcement convoys rather than being confined to the first landings. Delaying the landings or slowing the buildup ashore would create problems for the invasion. Torpedo boats are also a more realistic Norwegian procurement choice than an early anti-ship missile system. The missile alternative would require timely development, enough launch aircraft, and a support system Norway is unlikely to have ready.