Coulsdon Eagle
Monthly Donor
Irrational fear IMHO on the part of US politicians
1 firstly without oil they are useless
2 british capital ships can find refugee from canada to Australia ( pretty much anywhere in the world ) and can easily evade the german coast guard [ aka kriegsmarine]
3 britain worse case scenario transfer their govt from British isles and still give Germany a very tough time
4 Germany has no crews to man them and train new ones will take years
The US concern was that in order to get more lenient peace terms a British government may hand over what was left of the Home Fleet. Whether the RN would disobey a direct order from the legitimate government of the day (assuming a negotiated surrender) is an interesting point for argument. Would the lower deck support continuing resistance if it meant greater hardship for their families at home e.g. deportation for forced labour?
All of your comments above are correct although #1 do the Germans obtain Britain's oil reserves? Or take over British sources of oil in the Middle East. Or with no Britain in the West, have free access to Romania's oil?
#4 is a good point. In order to man a combined fleet German / French / British ships how much manpower would need to be removed from the ground forces in the East?