Operation MB8 combined convoys to Crete and Malta, Force H activities from Gibraltar, an Ark Royal strike at Cagliari, and the movement of reinforcements. These overlapping movements made it harder for the Italians to identify the decisive action. Force X also entered the Adriatic and struck an Italian convoy after the carrier attack. Cunningham hoped that a damaged fleet might emerge and be met by British battleships under more favourable night-fighting conditions.
Chapter · 1:22:10-1:26:44
Taranto inside a wider Mediterranean operation
The raid was one element in a larger operation of convoys, force movements, air transfers, and distractions across the Mediterranean.