Submarines and bases for a Mediterranean counteroffensive

Malta, Alexandria, Gibraltar, and French ports provide a network for controlling access and supporting operations while France remains in the war. The Allies still hold useful positions even though their best leaders and strongest ships have gone east, creating an almost reversed Singapore problem. The Royal Navy also has home-water and reserve submarines that would not yet have reached the Far East because reactivation and deployment take time. Some larger boats may already be earmarked for Asia, but the smaller reserve submarines are well suited to the confined Mediterranean. Bases and undersea forces therefore offer a way to restore pressure on Italy before the main battle fleet can be reinforced.