The UK not only can’t land it’s units, but it has to endure one round of defensive fire from the scrambled unit(s) before it can retreat. Any units on those transports are lost.
Not so. Since it’s not the transport’s turn, it is not in the battle and can’t move. The scrambled fighter simply prevents the amphibious landing without inflicting any casualties.
KH explained: A fighter can scramble to join a battle or against an amphibious assault. It cannot scramble against ships that are just putting around its waters though. This raises a new question, so I hope Krieghund is reading: If I send transports (only), or even a fleet with warships to assault an island with scramblable (I made up a word!!) units, can I send a fighter into the waters with it, even though that is not really a combat move (but it will be if my opponent scrambles)?
Yes. Just the chance of combat is enough to justify the move.
UK units on a US transport. Missed that. My bad.