Mediterranean Fleet heads for a position to cut off the Italians from their base at Taranto. On the 9th , Eagles aircraft fail to find the Italians and first contact is made by a detached cruiser squadron which comes under fire from the heavier Italian ships, before it can return fire itself. As the Italian battleships turn away, the British cruisers and destroyers engage, but with little effect. Mediterranean Fleet pursues to within 50 miles of the south west Italian coast off Calabria before withdrawing. From North Cape in Norway to the Pyrenees at the Spanish border, the coast of Europe is in German hands.
Norwegian bases threaten northern Britain.
By occupying the Low Countries of Holland and Belgium, and northern France, the south and east coasts of England are now in the front line. From their new French Biscay ports German maritime forces dominate the South Western Approaches to the British Isles. The British occupation of Iceland takes on a new and vital importance. The lack of bases in Eire becomes more evident. In addition, the majority of French possessions on the Atlantic seaboards of Africa and the Americas are under the control of Vichy France, and thus denied to British forces.