The Italian warships normally kept half their armament ready, increasing to full readiness at dawn and dusk. Even so, the low torpedo attack surprised defenders whose attention had been drawn upward. By the main force's arrival, air-raid sirens had sounded three times and gun crews had twice searched without finding a target. L4M had become separated in cloud and probably accelerated past the formation while trying to regain it. The aircraft appears to have reached Taranto 15 to 20 minutes early, prompting blind defensive fire while it circled offshore. The suggestion that Cunningham had engineered deliberate psychological warfare is challenged by this account of an accidental early arrival.
Notable Point · 19:41-22:58
A separated Swordfish probably caused the last false alarm
The defenders had already responded to two alarms when the main strike arrived, and an aircraft separated by cloud probably caused the second.