Mr Evans

The problem with your thesis is it presumes that Italy is in the war for Narvik (it wasn't) and that Gibraltar didn't exist (it did)

The Kriegsmarine had some good junior leaders, as did the Italians. In both cases the further you get up the tree the more bedevilled by caution these leaders start to become. Partially I think this is because of the Psychological superiority of the RN and secondly because their respective political masters were not willing to risk a defeat at sea.

Second, the Italians were not a more "modern" fleet as compared to Britain or Germany. They had their fair share of older ships as well.

Returning to Norway I'm sure the Kriegsmarine would have liked them to make up losses incurred in that campaign but this still doesn't consider the terrific problem of fuel shortages after 1941 for the Germans and the Italians were restricting their operations by early 1941.

For the RN you could argue that the North Atlantic is a better place to face the Italians: out of the range of shore-based aircraft with 3 fleet carriers available. My money is on the Stringbag yet again.

Jumbo

__________________
"Capital! We're nearly out of ammunition! Now we can get at them with the bayonet!" General Paddy Gough, 1st Sikh War