What earlier attacks best resemble Taranto?

What operation before Taranto provides the best historical precedent?

No earlier attack matched it exactly; Copenhagen is the strongest strategic analogy, with the Medway and Port Arthur offering other harbour-attack precedents.

No earlier operation provides an exact aerial predecessor because the targets, weapons, and conditions were different. Copenhagen offers the clearest strategic analogy: attack an enemy fleet where it believed itself protected. The Dutch action on the Medway and the opening at Port Arthur provide other examples of carrying violence into an anchorage. Taranto combined that older harbour-attack purpose with a new carrier-aircraft method.