Defending Disembarking Transports

they cannot be stacked together when the ground units are disembarking, however, you may set cruisers or BB's beside the beach to help "cover" the landing from enemy units.

Your ground units convoy must separate from its escorting naval units in order to disembark. It takes 4.5 hours to fully disembark on enemy soil. During that time, your landing force has greatly reduced hit points (5 per each included unit), has virtually no anti-aircraft defense (0.3 per each included unit), and, as a result, is extremely vulnerable to air attack, artillery, submarine attack, and naval gunfire. Threats from enemy submarines and surface ships can be largely covered by the presence of a strong escort force, properly positioned to the seaward side of the landing ground units, effectively placing your escorting naval units between the landing and any enemy naval units. Enemy artillery takes time to work its magic, so it can be countered with naval gunfire from your naval escorts (especially higher level battleships), but it may present a real challenge if the arty includes multiple units and is embedded in a large enemy stack within range of the landing. Likewise, your landing force becomes more vulnerable to air attack once it physically separates from its naval escorts. The best way to cover your landing force from air attack is to place a substantial combat air patrol (CAP) of interceptor squadrons on patrol directly over your landing forces. The fighter CAP cannot provide 100% protection to your landing force, but it can inflict significant losses on attacking enemy bombers every time they attack.