Interwar carrier raids rehearse attacks on ships in harbor

The US carrier raids of 1942 grew from interwar Fleet Problems that developed a raiding doctrine. American exercises twice used carriers to simulate successful attacks on Pearl Harbor. British planning also explored striking fleets that refused battle in port, informed in part by frustration with the German High Seas Fleet remaining in harbor during World War I. A fleet that stayed in port could still tie down the forces assigned to blockade it, giving the attacker another reason to strike inside the base. Moored ships could not maneuver and had restricted firing arcs amid other ships, fuel stores, and ammunition facilities. Pearl Harbor and the Battle of Taranto therefore fit a wider prewar search for ways to neutralize fleets inside defended bases.