Attacking a fleet in harbour had a history long before Taranto or Pearl Harbor. British planning during World War I built on the Cuxhaven raid of 25 December 1914 and included torpedo aircraft such as the Sopwith Cuckoo. Japanese naval observers worked alongside the Royal Navy, providing a route through which such ideas could reach Japan. Their precise access to particular plans is inferred here from that relationship. Both navies already had traditions of attacking ships where they were vulnerable in port. Taranto therefore belongs within a longer development of harbour attacks, while Mers-el-Kebir began with an attempt to persuade an ally to move its fleet to friendly, safe territory.
Notable Point · 10:31-13:22
World War I precedents for attacking fleets from the air
British wartime experiments, torpedo-aircraft development, and Japanese naval observers provide context for harbour-strike ideas before 1941.