Alexandria would not remove Italy's Mediterranean constraints

How would the Italian Navy's follow-on operations change if it fully understood its success at Alexandria?

It might act more boldly, but fuel shortages, limited unloading capacity, and the submarine threat would still constrain operations and prevent an easy strategic breakthrough.

Full knowledge of the Alexandria raid's success could encourage more aggressive Italian operations, but fuel shortages would still limit use of the battle fleet. One proposed opportunity is to send larger convoys to North Africa without British capital ships threatening them. The objection is that port capacity, escort numbers, and submarines still constrain those convoys. Tripoli needed rapid unloading because ships waiting in harbour were exposed to bombing and mines. Small convoys maintained a demanding shuttle service that wore down the escorts, while many of the better transports had already been lost and there was little replacement capacity. Greater confidence after Alexandria would therefore have to operate within an already strained transport system, without making an invasion of Malta straightforward.