Judgment
A Harpoon Commander's Edition (HCE) scenario for the EC2003 Mediterranean battleset and the HCE World Wars (HCWW) database.
This scenario is designed for play by the BLUE side.
The true potential of naval aviation did not come to the fore until the night of 11-12 November 1940, at a place called Taranto in Italy. By mid 1940 the naval balance of power in the Mediterranean did not favor the Royal Navy. The Regia Marina (Italian Navy) had six battleships and more ships of every other class, excepting aircraft carriers. The Italians had, however, thus far proved unwilling to bring their considerable firepower to bear, preferring to advance the idea of a fleet in being, and had remained close to home waters at their main fleet base in Taranto. Before the Germans could arrive and shift the balance of power irretrievably in favor of the Axis, Churchill hoped to reduce the Italian threat. A longstanding plan for attacking the Italian fleet at Taranto was pulled off the shelf and dusted off. That plan was called Operation Judgment.
Image credit: 'Raid on Taranto', by Anthony Saunders.