How carrier survival could alter the North African war

The survival of Courageous and Glorious creates a chain of possible consequences. Stronger multi-carrier attacks might keep more Italian battleships disabled, leaving Axis convoys less heavily protected. Royal Navy cruisers, destroyers, and submarines would then have more opportunities to cut the flow of supplies to North Africa. The final effect is explicitly counterfactual, but it shows how naval attrition could decide whether a major land force such as the Afrika Korps was deployed at all.