The morning after the battle, Tich Whiteley, newly promoted to squadron leader, reported one battleship partially submerged and another beached. Oil was pouring from many other ships and the harbour was in chaos. Admiral Cunningham wrote to Air Commodore Maynard, Air Officer Commanding (AOC) Malta, on 14 November thanking him: ‘I hasten to write you a line to thank you for the most valuable reconnaissance work carried out by your squadrons, without which the successful attack on Taranto would have been impossible. I well know what long monotonous flying time they have to put in and I am very grateful to them. The work over Taranto has been particularly valuable and gave us all we wanted to know. Good luck and my grateful thanks again for your cooperation’ In a single stroke, the balance of power in the Mediterranean had been altered. Announcing news to the House of Commons, Churchill spoke of, ‘this glorious episode’. Cunningham’s despatch on the operation, published in 1947, said the success of the Fleet Air Arm attack was due in no small part to the excellent reconnaissances carried out by 431 Flight, under very difficult conditions and often in the face of fighter opposition. Sadly, a number of aircrew involved, including Warby, did not live long enough to read Cunningham’s words.