One favorable fact about Cavagnari is that he did not remain chief of staff for long after Italy entered the war. Arturo Riccardi replaced him on 11 December 1940. On paper, the new chief should have been an improvement. Riccardi instead achieved little enough to become almost a nonentity in the larger story. Changing the officeholder therefore did not by itself correct the Regia Marina's command and procurement problems.
Notable Point · 1:45:55-1:47:00
Riccardi replaced Cavagnari without transforming the fleet
Italy changed naval chiefs in December 1940, but Arturo Riccardi's stronger résumé did not translate into the improvement the fleet needed.