the "show of force" is a neat way of saying "we warned you we were here, so what follows next is of your own choosing".
It's called a harassment mission and we've been doing it for decades. Op PULSATOR (Buccs over Beirut) was a classic example but we used to 'harass' ships in the ASuW role and in the 2ATAF scenarios in Germany too!
On the subject of Dresden, having recently visited the city and read the book 'DRESDEN, 13 February 1945' by Frederick Taylor I believe that I am right in saying that Dresden was never on the target list until the Soviets (as stated last night on the programme) asked for it to be brought into the list to ease pressure on the Eastern Front by stemming the flow of reinforcements eastwards through Dresden railhead. (By the way, all the Gothic architecture destroyed has been rebuilt by the communist East Germans - not the Russians who told their new puppet regime that they had got what they deserved on 13 Feb 45!).
Foldie
