Well, under FIDA standard bid is closer to 14-15 IPC with 7 IPC for units immediately and 7 or 8 IPC for builds later on your turn.
Standard LHTR bids I have seen so far have averaged closer to 5-7 IPC for units. 8 IPCs are very rare because it forces the Allies to make sub-standard moves and no allied player wants to be in that situation, so they either bid 8 themselves (getting the allies) or 7 (getting the axis.)
Anyway, Fleet Unification without 8 IPC is not so hard.
Battleship, Transport from SZ 14 to SZ 13
Infantry from S. Europe to Gibraltar (this stops England from attacking the fleet in SZ 13 with 2 Fighters and a Bomber since the Fighters have no valid landing zones anymore)
2 Submarines, Transport, Destroyer from SZ 5 to SZ 7
leave the SZ 8 Submarine alone in SZ 8 (stops the English battleship from attacking SZ 7)
Now England cannot link with the Americans and Russians in SZ 12, nor can they effectively attack the German fleet.
However, America and England CAN hit SZ 7 with air power alone.
SOOO
Get yourself a bomber on Round 1 (since this bomber can immediately hit SZ 12) and put all this ships you can in SZ 13 (again taking Gibraltar for safety).
As for SZ 5 protection, a second destroyer works great (total so far 27 IPC leaving 13 for ground units) but you can get the carrier or a transport/submarine too (total 31 leaving 9 for ground units) if you are more comfortable with those.
Now, you have negated the entire Allied fleet without a gambit bid of 8 IPC for a bonus submarine in SZ 8. You’ve also secured Norway a bit if you’ve put another Inf and an AA Gun there. (England could still take it, but honestly, what English player wants to send fighters and bombers into Norway against an AA Gun on round 1?)