From Copenhagen to Taranto and Pearl Harbor

Kaiser Wilhelm II feared that Fisher might 'Copenhagen' the German fleet with a surprise attack before it was ready. Fisher found the rumor amusing because he said he had discussed the option only with the British king, although the strategic logic was clear enough for German planners to identify independently. The same tradition of disabling a fleet at the outset connects Copenhagen with the British attack at Taranto. The Pearl Harbor comparison rests on the argument that Japanese naval thinking had absorbed lessons from years of cooperation with Britain. A pre-emptive strike can recur as an operational answer even when the political setting and technology change.