She was a Fleet carrier; her name was Eagle. She was the latest and largest of her class, outfitted with fighters and torpedo bombers.
Until now Alexandria had been free of air-raids and bombardment. But on that black night of 19 December, in seven minutes, 31,000-tons of disciplined steel had resolved into a broken and unbuoyant mass going down into the cold and lightless deeps of the Mediterranean.
Angry and frustrated, torpedo bomber Bishop exclaimed: “A few hours’ work and the whole strategic position in the Med has swung right over their way.”
“What do you suggest?” Haining, Seafire fighter leader asked.
Bishop’s terse reply came at once: “Taranto – the main naval base of the Italian Royal Navy, and opposite number to Alexandria.”
If they could hit Taranto hard, they could prevent embattled Malta being starved of food and ammunition, ensure absolute British naval supremacy in the Eastern Mediterranean and exact revenge for the loss of English battleships Valiant, Queen Elizabeth, and Barham.
But could they and how would they?