Comparing Taranto and Pearl Harbor on like terms

Illustrious dispatched twenty-one aircraft, twenty reached Taranto, and two were lost. Japan launched 355 aircraft at Pearl Harbor and lost twenty-nine, so raw totals obscure the difference in scale. Taranto was flown at night against an alerted wartime base, whereas Pearl Harbor struck defenders in peacetime conditions at dawn. The British attack disabled three battleships and reconnaissance facilities while the wider force movements continued without loss. Both operations deserve analysis on their own conditions rather than treating Taranto as a simple miniature of Pearl Harbor.