| Battle of Taranto |
| Part of World War II |
|
|
| Combatants |
United Kingdom |
Italy |
| Commanders |
Lumley Lyster |
Inigo Campioni |
| Strength |
21 torpedo bombers
1 aircraft carrier
2 heavy cruisers
2 light cruisers
4 destroyers |
6 battleships
7 heavy cruisers
2 light cruisers
8 destroyers |
| Casualties |
2 aircraft destroyed
2 killed
2 prisoners |
1 battleship sunk
2 battleships damaged
1 light cruiser damaged |
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 Sea and attacking the Italian fleet at harbour in
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.
The Royal Navy had won in several actions, considerably upsetting the Mediterranean balance of power. Following the theory of a fleet in being, the Italians left their ships in harbour, making the threat of a sortie a serious problem. At the time it packed a potentially powerful punch: the harbour 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 the
older HMS Eagle in Admiral Andrew Cunningham's fleet. They had originally intended to launch
the operation 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 patrol flying boat on the night of November 11, just as the task force was
forming up about 170 miles away from the harbour, off the Greek island of Cephalonia. This alerted the Italian forces, but without radar they could do
little but wait.
Battle
Attack directions of the British planes.
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 mix of bomb-equipped and torpedo-equipped planes approached the harbour at 22:58 and split into
two groups, one attacking the ships in the outer harbour (Mar Grande) and a smaller group flying over the town to the
inner harbour (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, and bombs damaged a cruiser in the inner harbour.
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. [1]
Aftermath
The Italian fleet had suffered heavily, and the next day Regia Marina transferred its undamaged ships from Taranto 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 battleship 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 setback, the Regia Marina had the adequate resources to fight the Battle of Cape Spartivento (27 November 1940),
preventing the British from successfully reinforcing Malta. However, the British decisively
defeated the 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 30 m (100 ft). Taranto had a water depth of only 12 m
(40 ft). However the Royal Navy used modified torpedoes, and also dropped them from a very low height. This and other
aspects of the raid were important factors considered in the planning of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941: the Japanese planning staff studied it intensively.
Citations
References
External links
Further reading
- Thomas P Lowry & John W.G. Wellham. (1995). The Attack on Taranto : blueprint for Pearl Harbor. Stackpole
Books. ISBN 0-8117-1726-7
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