Why Taranto emphasized torpedoes against battleships

Bomb-carrying aircraft and flares distracted defenders and threatened smaller vessels, while torpedo aircraft attacked the battle line. Repeated torpedo hits offered a better chance of knocking out a battleship than the available bombs. The same calculation recalls Jellicoe's problem at Jutland, because the probability of disabling a ship rose as more hits were achieved. The weapon allocation followed the target priority and the Royal Navy's experience of what underwater damage could do.