At the risk of whipping a dead animal of the equine flavor, I would like to address the German fleet unification issue as well as put my $0.02 in on the “channel dash” option. I am making the distinction because the “channel dash” is moving the baltic fleet toward the Med on G1 and unifying the German fleet in sz7 is not.
First, the Allies don’t have to prevent the German fleets from combining in sz7. As far as I’m concerned, it is in their best interest to let Germany do it to prevent an uneven loss of IPC’s in Germany’s favor. Blocking them on UK1 is much more costly to the Allies should Germany attack the UK fleet. The simple block comes in UK2.
All of this assumes that the bid is 1 arm or 2 inf in Lib, the German sub isn’t lost against the UK BB in sz13, and Russia didn’t kill the Ukr fig.
UK should purchase 1 CV, 1 arm, 3 inf and place the CV in sz8 and move all of their fleet to sz8 as well, landing the E Can arm in UK on the way. The bomber can be used to retake Egypt since it is likely that there will only be 1 or 2 German units remaining. The UK DD in sz15 will move to sz14 to prevent the German Med fleet from turning back to help in an Egypt attack on G2.
US should purchase 1 CV, 2 TP, 2 arm and transport 2 inf, 1 art, 1 arm to sz8 unloading in UK. Land the W US fig on the UK CV. move 2 inf from C US to E US, and move the E US bmb/fig to UK.
Russia will move the SS to sz8 on R2.
If Germany attacks the sz8 fleet (1 CV, 1 fig, 1 BB, 1 DD, 1 SS, 4 TP) with the Med fleet and aircraft (1 BB, 1 SS, 1 TP, 6 fig, 1 bmb) it will cost them half their airforce and leave the BB isolated. With the Russians bearing down on them losing a bunch of fighters will be devastating to Germany.
Attacking UK is also a bad idea. 1 BB, 5 inf, 5 arm, 6 fig, 1 bmb vs. 7 inf, 2 art, 4 arm, 3 fig, 1 bmb, 1 AA is approximately a 35%-40% win.
At that point, unifying the fleet is useless because Germany’s navy will be hopelessly outclassed with the addition of the US CV, DD, 2 TP from sz10, the Hawaiian fig, and whatever navy the UK buys in UK2. London will also be safe with the extra 2 inf, 2 arm the US lands on US2.
The block of the German fleet comes from moving the UK DD from sz14 to sz12 which will prevent a German landing in E Can or Brazil. Even if Germany manages to kill the DD without a loss in G2 and combines their fleet in sz7 the UK can place a SS in sz7 to prevent the German TP’s from loading and still have 19-22 IPC’s(+/- India income) to build more navy in sz8.
Seems a little risky for Germany even with maximum forces available let alone if they lose the Ukr fighter or a sub. I wouldn’t try it but if you can make it work, more power to you.
The Channel Dash move, in my opinion, requires a bid in Lib and a naval purchase in the Med. My preference is a CV/TP. If you can get away with it, the SS from sz8 should be combined with the baltic fleet in sz7 instead of helping attack the BB in sz13 but that depends on how many fighters will be needed in Europe on G1. The goal is to have 2-3 fig in WE, 2 fig on the CV, and 1 fig, 1 bmb in Lib after Non-com. It allows for massive attack pressure on sz12 if the Allies land in Algeria and all fighters available for attack in Europe if they don’t.
If the Uk attacks sz7 with air only, you have the option of submerging the subs or fighting it out depending on how many hits the UK scores in round 1. And if they attack with the BB and TP’s, as well, you probably will kill at least a TP on round 1 and submerging the subs will give you an attack force of 1-3 SS, 5-6 fighters, and 1 bmb against whatever is left, plus UK builds, on G2. I don’t mind losing some fighters in that counterattack because the door to Africa will be wide open and the UK has a lot of rebuilding to do before you would see UK ground units in Europe.
Another benefit is that by forcing an attack on sz7 instead of sz5, the UK bomber can’t reach Sink to threaten unprotected Japanese TP’s in sz60/61. A rarely used move but it’s a real pain in the ass to Japan.
Lastly, the CV/TP in the Med is a safety valve. In case the attack on Egypt goes horribly wrong, you aren’t necessarily dead in Africa. Even if the Egyptian fighter survives, an attack on the CV fleet by 1 bmb, 2 fig, 1 DD is only a 50/50 battle. And if the UK should reinforce Egypt and load up in sz15 instead, Germany has enough available forces to destroy both with likely an acceptable amount of losses. Either way, you still have access to Africa and the UK will be basically defanged in Asia and the Pacific. Japan should be happy about that.
So far the Channel Dash has served me well enough to abandon the CV build in the baltic but it’s still a work in progress so I can’t assume it’s viable.