Operation Sea Lion as an amphibious logistics problem

Operation Sea Lion turned Lutjens from fleet commander into an amphibious planner. His staff estimated that the invasion required roughly 1,800 river barges, 500 tugs, 156 steamships, 1,200 motorboats, and 24,000 naval personnel retrained as landing-craft crews. Embarkation was spread across Ostend, Dunkirk, Calais, Boulogne, Le Havre, and Cherbourg, with landing ideas ranging from Lyme Regis to the Kent and Sussex coast around Deal, Hastings, and Worthing. Lyme Regis presented a particular problem because moving a formation inland through the town and its roads would be difficult. The scheme sent infantry and engineers ahead to seize beaches and clear obstacles before heavier craft could unload. A related proposal would ground old battleships on the Varne Bank to protect the crossing with gunfire. The landings attacked some of Britain's strongest coastal defences instead of finding a way around them as German forces had done in France. Maritime lift, access inland, and the expected Royal Navy and RAF response made Sea Lion far more demanding than an army crossing.