Taranto's place in Mediterranean force balance

The suggestion that continued French participation would remove the need for Taranto meets a counterargument based on the forces actually available. Richelieu would be the main modern French battleship, while Jean Bart remained an uncertain addition and Dunkerque and Strasbourg were also needed against German ships in the Atlantic. Glorious, especially practised in night harbour attacks, had been diverted to northern operations and some of her trained personnel had dispersed. The discussion of Force K and Force H adds that France's departure changed British command arrangements as well as ship totals. Even a generous hypothetical commitment of French capital ships would, in this assessment, only bring the Allies roughly level with the Italian fleet. That balance would still oblige them to concentrate against a possible Italian sortie. Damaging battleships in harbour would reduce the threat to Malta and North African convoy routes, improve opportunities to attack Axis shipping and allow several Allied tactical groups to operate.