If I plan for Sea Lion (and that is the topic of the thread, so let’s assume I do) I would go Aircraft Carrier, Destroyer, Submarine.
Why?
The Carrier and Destroyer along with scrambled fighters from Hamburg, Germany (W. Germany) should be more than enough to stop England from sinking your fleet.
The Submarine is insurance against the England NO for no German submarines on the Atlantic board. I have, on more than one occasion, lost every starting submarine I had without killing a single dang British ship outside of SZ 111 (because I overwhelm it with half a dozen planes and a pair of submarines, survival for England would require a reboot of the universe.)
I also assume the following:
- Bulgaria absorbed
- Finland absorbed
- Normandy/W. France taken
- France Taken
- Yugoslavia taken
This should give Germany 70 IPC to spend on Round 2.
Now, if your attacks went average or well, on Germany 2 you can put 10 transports in the water (11 total on the board.) If England went into the Med to deny Italy the NO there, take Gibraltar with one transport and lock them in giving you two shore bombardments and annoying the British to no end.
If not, or it is unfeasible to accomplish the attack on Gibraltar, just leave the transport with you and hope you have the firepower to kill the fleet in SZ 110 and enough airpower to take London.
Remember, however, after England falls, the desperate need for your aircraft carrier drops significantly. I would be inclined to take two hits on the carrier right off if England had a large enough force in SZ 110, thus giving myself that 1 extra hit on a unit with an attack value!
You also have to worry about whether or not to take Scotland. If the American/British navy gets into SZ 109 and you cannot clear it, you’ll lose 6 IPC from England and you might give America 2 IPC for liberating Scotland and lose 2 IPC for taking it back (to deny America position) in convoy damage there too!
It is one of the reasons people are beginning to chatter about abandoning England and setting up for a counter attack later in the game.