Taranto and Tsushima offer poor parallels for a force discovered before an undeclared attack. At Taranto, Britain and Italy were already at war, so detection would not create the same constitutional and diplomatic choices. Tsushima likewise occurred during an existing war. December 1941 combines the ability to detect an approaching force with political decisions about whether and how war begins.
Notable Point · 1:36:38-1:37:34
Why Taranto and Tsushima are imperfect parallels
Taranto and Tsushima lack the political ambiguity of a carrier force discovered before its undeclared attack, even though each offers a useful detection comparison.