Was Taranto the inspiration behind Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor?

Before Pearl Harbor the Fleet Air Arm showed the way at Taranto. By Alan Bardos.

Aerial photo of Taranto Harbor and smoking ships after the attack

The Fleet Air Arm’s raid on the Italian naval base of Taranto in 1940 was the first-time carrier launched aircraft were used to attack enemy ships, in a heavily defended harbour. It has been overshadowed by Japan’s much larger raid on Pearl Harbor, but it proved the concept of carrier born aircraft to the Japanese as they considered the risks of launching their own carrier born attack.