The Regia Marina moved to Naples after Taranto could no longer be treated as safe. Sardinia stood between the new anchorage and Force H, including Ark Royal, while Sicily and southern Italy screened it from the Mediterranean Fleet. Those geographic barriers offered protection but left the fleet farther from the eastern Mediterranean it was supposed to cover. At the same time, Royal Navy forces passed the Straits of Otranto into the Adriatic and destroyed an Italian convoy. The convoy's destruction compounded the humiliation and exposed the operational cost imposed by the carrier raid.
Chapter · 8:16-9:40
Why the Regia Marina moved to Naples
After Taranto ceased to be a sanctuary, the Regia Marina moved to Naples behind geographic screens but farther from the eastern Mediterranean.