Q&A ยท 1:14:29-1:15:32

Did the Fleet Air Arm rehearse Taranto in detail?

Taranto relied on practiced skills and intelligence preparation rather than a Pearl Harbor-style full operational rehearsal.

Question

Did the Fleet Air Arm rehearse the Taranto operation in the detailed way Japan rehearsed Pearl Harbor?

Short answer

No. The Royal Navy practised the necessary skills and studied intelligence models, but did not conduct a full detailed rehearsal of the operation.

Notes

The Fleet Air Arm did not rehearse the exact attack in the way Japanese forces prepared for Pearl Harbor. Aircrews received the operational plan and an intelligence-prepared model or equivalent representation of the port. They relied on skills repeatedly exercised elsewhere and on reconnaissance immediately before the strike. Taranto was a wartime mission by one available carrier rather than a peacetime concentration of a much larger fleet.