The continuing need for British heavy ships in home waters gave the smaller Italian battle fleet leverage in the Mediterranean. Swordfish aircraft reduced that leverage through the innovative attack at Taranto, which the book presents as a forerunner of Japan's larger raid on Pearl Harbor. Aircraft could therefore change the surface balance even when battleships were scarce. Yet the confined Mediterranean also exposed Royal Navy forces and bases to repeated attacks by Italian and German aircraft operating from shore. Malta at times became untenable for surface ships, and submarines survived daylight in harbor by submerging alongside their berths. The reaction to that practice emphasizes the physical danger from near-miss bombs as well as direct hits. The moment pairs the offensive promise of naval aviation with the defensive vulnerability of ships under land-based air power.
Notable Point · 11:21-12:59
Taranto, land-based air power, and survival at Malta
The Mediterranean example contrasts the Swordfish attack at Taranto with the persistent danger that Axis land-based aircraft posed to ships and bases.