No Torpedo planes for Op SEALION - what rubbish! Ever heard of the Heinkel 115?
I am able to offer you the following piece of almost forgotten WW2 history, which actually happened near Norwegian coast on 9 April 1940.
On that day, at the very first light, Luftwaffe’s Küstenfligergruppen (Coastal Reconnaissance Groups) swept the area between Bergen and the Orkneys with 28 He 115 seaplanes, searching for British ships. They did their job tremendously well, because they had successfully located two major British naval groups: The first one – essentially main force of the Home Fleet - with two battleships, six cruisers, and numerous destroyers in protection screen northwest of Bergen, and the second one, with nine cruisers and eleven destroyers to the port’s west-southwest.
Being in possession of this highly important knowledge, command of the Fliegerkorps X mounted a large anti-shipping strike, consisting of 41 He 111 from KG 26 and 47 Ju 88s from KG 30. The leading formation of Ju 88s found the second group (cruiser force), and ferociously dived upon the british ships, sinking the destroyer GURKHA and heavily damaging both HMS SOUTHAMPTON and HMS GALATEA cruisers. Further bomber formations found and attacked the Home Fleet, directly hitting the HMS RODNEY – the flagship of the fleet – with a bomb that failed to penetrate the Rodney’s thick deck armor, while three other cruisers were damaged by near misses.
Commanding officer of the British naval forces, Commander in Chief of the Home Fleet admiral Charles M. Forbes, after 7 hours of factual battle and with 4 German Ju 88’s downed by British naval AAA decided to retire out of range of Fliegercorps X due to lack of aerial protection and evident shortage of AA ammunition.
So might you change your opinion on your facts?
BTW, here is a picture of a He115 with a Torpedo which was operational from 1937.
