People seldom learn lessons in time to prevent catastrophe, but in 1940 a daring British air action offered just such a chance for the United States to avoid the debacle at Pearl Harbor -- if only U.S. officials had been paying attention. Unfortunately, the few people who really took note of the lightning strike at Taranto were the Japanese High Command, and they paid very close attention indeed. When carrier-launched Japanese bombers struck Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, in one of the most devastating unforeseen attacks of all time, there were at least some who were not surprised. They had seen it all before -- more than a year earlier. In November 1940, in a series of striking parallels, British carrier-launched planes flew through the night and in a stunning dawn assault virtually put the Italian fleet out of World War II for good. And all the while, the Taranto operation was being carefully studied by Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto as a textbook case of swift devastation. The lesson was not lost on him, and a year later he would repeat it on unsuspecting U.S. warships. Never before has there been a thorough study of Taranto made available for the popular audience. The authors have created a model study of men, machines, and nations, all bound together on the road to making history. -- From the book jacket.

The curtain rises -- Two worried Admirals -- The formidable string bag -- Platforms and weapons -- The Italian Navy and Air Force -- Malta and the dog mange cure -- The plan -- Murphy's law and the final plan -- Judgment night -- Volleyed and thundered -- The morning after -- ABC equals Z -- Applying the hard lessons -- The summing up -- Appendices. British naval aviation -- Raid on Bomba -- Flight crews at Taranto -- Italian naval ships at Taranto -- Maximum speeds of planes in use in 1940- 41 -- Midway -- Comparative ranks -- British abbreviations.