Arturo Riccardi and Domenico Cavagnari promised more than they delivered, helping convince German leaders that the Italian fleet was a poor investment. Germany imposed a commerce-war burden on the Royal Navy through convoy protection, blockade, anti-submarine warfare, and surface raiders. Japan required a battle fleet built around fast carrier task forces and battleships. Italy's position created a different problem because an active Regia Marina could block the Mediterranean and Suez Canal route between the Atlantic and Indian Ocean. British ships would then have to travel around Africa, reducing the fleet's ability to reinforce either theatre quickly. A properly supplied and competently led Italian fleet could therefore create disproportionate trouble without being the largest Axis navy.
Notable Point · 28:18-31:42
Why the Regia Marina was Britain's strategically awkward opponent
Italian geography made the Regia Marina uniquely disruptive to Britain's Suez route between the Atlantic and Indian Ocean theatres, even when weak leadership obscured that strategic weight.