On 20 February 1944, Norwegian saboteurs bombed a ferry that was carrying heavy water and civilians. This was the culmination point of the Allied sabotage mission to stop the Nazis from acquiring nuclear capabilities. The thing is, they were no wear near close to creating nuclear weapons and later examinations of the contents of the barrels revealed, that they didn't have the the quantity or the quality of heavy water needed, even if they wanted to. Should have there been more inltel gathered before proceeding? Did the Allies commit a mistake?
No, the ferry bombing was a good idea, I think. Just because they weren't that close to having the A bomb doesn't mean stopping them from transporting the materials to Germany was wrong. To my knowledge, this was the last act of a whole series of Allied actions to destroy the heavy water plant and stop the use or transport of the materials out of Norway.
Yes they ran a series of successful sabotage missions on the plant that was creating the heavy water, which set back production about 6-7 months. The thing is, the Brits were decoding German messages, they must have known that they didn't give to much of a hoot about enriching uranium. There would have been chatter about an installation the size of the Manhattan project.
So, if they had no interest in enriching uranium, why did the Germans attempt to transport the remaining heavy water to Germany? Just because they were not close is no excuse to give them the materials to get closer to enrichment. I don't get your point.
