A raid both too successful and not successful enough

The Royal Navy hoped a sharp blow might provoke the Italians into an unfavourable fleet action. The strike instead left enough repairable battleships to preserve the battle line as a continuing threat. More torpedo aircraft could have disabled additional ships and reduced the heavy escort required for British convoys. That might have allowed Illustrious to carry more fighters and released capital ships for other theatres. This tension made Taranto a major operational success that fell short of solving the Mediterranean's larger strategic problem.