@jim010:
Russian navy? Interesting.
My first impulse is to laugh, but maybe there’s something to it? Where do they build it? Baltic or Arctic?
One of the main people proposing this is not buying “all navy” on R1.
His proposal, from what I gather, is as follows:
On R1, assuming G1 looks like a possible sealion set up, buy 1DD, 2SS (in the Arctic) and a mix of land units.
UK1 buy ground defense in London. Claim Eire. Move most of Med fleet to z92.
US1 buy 3 Bombers, remaining money can be 2DDs or a Carrier, but the US should be preping to have a Carrier in z102 on US2.
If Germany buys the transports for sealion on G2, then
R2 buys 1 Bomber, the rest land units. Move Arctic fleet out to Altantic in range of z110.
UK2 mass surviving Atlantic and Med fleets in z109 supplement with SS purchases, maybe a DD. Have some land forces is Scotland and Eire and try to have 2-3 fighters in Scotland. Move bomber to Iceland.
US2 buy 3 more bombers in East US (total of 7 there now). Remaining money is 2 DD or a CV for the Pacific. Move a Carrier (and maybe Pacific BB as well) to z102 with Fighter/Tac.
After a successful G3 sealion, Russia, US, and UK do a three-way attack on the German fleet in z110.
Russia can bring 3 SS, 1 DD, 1 Bomber.
US can bring 7 Bombers, 1 Fighter, 1 Tac.
UK can bring a mix of fleet, some fighters, a Tac, and a Bomber. The exact mix depends on results of earlier battles and buys.
One of my concerns with this plan is it leaves London so light on ground forces that Germany can afford to divert some transports and air cover to z119 to take Eire and Scotland on G3, depriving the US bombers of a landing zone. Not sure if this a real concern though, since Germany would have to divert at least 3, maybe more, transports to take both territories and a fair amount of air to cover the possible scramble from Scotland. And any transports sent to z119 will die on one of R3, US3, or UK3.
The other concern is Germany goes Barbarossa starting in G2 after seeing the R1 buy. Though in this case it is not like the Russian navy is useless. It can convoy Norway, forcing DD purchases if Germany wants to clear, and/or provide padding to allied fleets in the Atlantic or Med allowing them to make earlier advances in those areas, and/or serve as a can opener for allied fleets. Yes, boots on the ground would be more useful for Russia in the face of Barbarossa, but the fleet isn’t useless. And the US1 purchase can quickly swing to the Pacific if need be after Germany abandons sealion.