Battle of Taranto

The naval Battle of Taranto took place on the night of 11 November — 12 November 1940 during World War II. The Royal Navy launched the first all-aircraft naval attack in history, flying a small number of aircraft from an aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean and attacking the Italian fleet at Taranto. The effect of the British aircraft on the Italian warships led pundits around the world to predict the end of the "big gun" ship and the rise of naval air-power.

Origins

In 1940 Italian operations in North Africa around Libya required supply from the Italian mainland. British North African operations, based in Egypt suffered from much greater supply difficulties, with convoys having to cross the Mediterranean Sea from depots in Gibraltar. This put the Italian fleet in an excellent position to cut off supplies to British forces.

In several actions the Royal Navy had won, considerably upsetting the Mediterranean balance of power. Instead of action, the Italians left their ships in harbor, making the threat of a sortie a serious problem. This followed the theory of a fleet in being. At the time it packed a potentially powerful punch: the harbor at Taranto contained six battleships (five of them battle-worthy), seven heavy cruisers, two light cruisers and eight destroyers.

The British, concerned with the potential for an attack, had long ago drawn up Operation Judgement, the surprise attack on Taranto. For this mission they sent the new HMS Illustrious to join HMS Eagle in Admiral Andrew Cunningham's fleet. They had originally intended to launch it on 21 October 1940 (Trafalgar Day) but damage to both carriers prevented this, and Illustrious took on planes from Eagle and launched the attack alone. The task-force consisted of Illustrious, two heavy cruisers, two light cruisers and four destroyers. The attack aircraft came from No. 813,No. 815, No. 819, and No. 824 Naval Air Squadrons. Illustrious also had No. 806 NAS for air cover.

Several reconnaissance flights by Martin Maryland bombers operating from Malta had confirmed the location of the Italian fleet but to make sure the British also sent in a Short Sunderland on the night of November 11, just as the task force was forming up about 170 miles away from the harbor, just off the Greek island of Cephalonia. This alerted the Italian forces, but without radar they could do little but wait.

Battle

The first wave of 12 Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers left the Illustrious just before 21:00, followed by a second wave of 9 aircraft about an hour later. The first wave, which consisted of a mixture of bomb-equipped and torpedo-equipped planes approached the harbor at 22:58 and split into two groups, one attacking the ships in the outer harbor (Mar Grande) and a smaller group flying over the town to the inner harbor (Mar Piccolo). The second wave attacked from the northwest over the town about an hour later. During the attacks the battleship Littorio was hit by three torpedoes, while the battleships Conte di Cavour and Caio Duilio each received one, while bombs damaged a cruiser in the inner harbor. Two of the planes in the first wave had dropped flares in order to mark the targets in the dark and although this also gave gunners on the ground better visibility, the Italians shot down only two of the Swordfish.

Of the two aircraft lost, two crew were taken prisoner. The other two crew were lost. (link)

Aftermath

The Italian fleet suffered a mortal wound and the next day transferred its undamaged ships to naval bases farther north to protect them from similar attacks. Repairs to Littorio took about four months and to Caio Duilio six but Conte di Cavour required extensive salvage work and its repairs were incomplete when Italy left the war in 1943. The Italian fleet lost half its strength in one night, the " fleet-in-being" diminished in importance and the Royal Navy increased its control of the Mediterranean.

Even with this serious blow, the Italian fleet had the resources to fight the battle of Cape Spartivento (27 November 1940) with good results. However the British decisively beat the remaining Italian fleet a few months later in the battle of Cape Matapan (March 1941).

Air-launched torpedo experts in all modern navies had previously thought that torpedo attacks against ships required deep water, at least 100 ft (30 m). Taranto had a water depth of only 40 ft (12 m). However the Royal Navy used modified torpedoes, and also dropped them from a very low height. This aspect of the raid and others, served as an important fact in the planning of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941: Japanese planning staff studied it intensively.

External links

Naval battles | Battle of the Mediterranean | Naval battles of Italy

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Origins

Battle

Aftermath

External links