Duilio, Littorio, Vittorio Veneto, Conte di Cavour, Andrea Doria, and the heavy cruisers Gorizia, Zara, and Fiume make eight good torpedo targets. Two to four hits on each selected ship would sink some hulls outright in the harbour. Taranto's port facilities were already overloaded by the historical casualty list. A much broader set of damaged ships would divide pumps, repair personnel, and dockyard resources so severely that otherwise salvageable vessels could become permanent losses.
Notable Point · 1:16:18-1:17:24
Eight targets and overloaded Taranto repair
Eight exposed capital ships and heavy cruisers would spread pumps, salvage crews, and dockyard capacity across far more casualties than Taranto historically handled.