Fighting without Mastery—Italian Naval Strategy and the Defeat of the Regia Marina in the Mediterranean, 1940–1943

Fascist Italy’s campaign to secure and command oceanic sea-lanes in the period between 1935 and 1943 marks a noteworthy failure in interwar strategy. Such a glaring historical moment—particularly the failure to raise a suitable navy capable of achieving Italy’s geopolitical objects—demands further inquiry to uncover how and why this project fell far short of its projected aims.