The Royal Navy Attacks the Italian Fleet at Taranto
On the night of November 11 to 12, 1940, torpedo aircraft from the British carrier HMS Illustrious attacked Italian warships at anchor in the harbor of Taranto. Three Italian battleships were hit.
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The Mediterranean in 1940
Italy entered the Second World War in June 1940, and its navy, the Regia Marina, had several modern and refitted battleships based at Taranto, a port in southern Italy. The British Mediterranean Fleet, commanded by Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham, had studied the idea of an air attack on the port since before the war, and the plan was refined by Rear Admiral Lumley Lyster, who commanded the carrier force. The new aircraft carrier Illustrious joined the fleet in the autumn of 1940, which gave Cunningham the means to carry it out.
The Attack
On the evening of November 11 the Illustrious, escorted by cruisers and destroyers, reached a position in the Ionian Sea about 170 nautical miles from Taranto. Twenty-one Fairey Swordfish biplanes took off in two waves, the first a little after 8:30 p.m. and the second about an hour later. Some carried torpedoes, which had been adapted to run in shallow water, and others carried bombs and flares. The Italian defenses opened fire with anti-aircraft guns, and the harbor was lit by the flares.
The Result
The battleship Conte di Cavour was hit and sank in shallow water, and was raised later but did not return to service. The Littorio and the Caio Duilio were also hit, and both were repaired. Other ships and harbor installations were reported damaged. Two Swordfish were shot down. Two crew members were killed, and two were captured. After the attack the Italian navy moved its main battleships to Naples, farther from British aircraft.
Later Attention to the Raid
Historians and naval writers have discussed the raid's influence on later operations. The U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command quotes Prime Minister Winston Churchill's remark that half of the Italian fleet had been put out of action for at least six months. Some authors have linked the attack to Japanese planning for the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, and others consider the extent of that influence uncertain. The Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm marks the anniversary of the raid every year.
The Aircraft and the Carrier
The Fairey Swordfish was a biplane covered with fabric, with a top speed of about 230 kilometers per hour. It was in service with the Fleet Air Arm throughout the war and was nicknamed the Stringbag. HMS Illustrious was damaged by German dive bombers in January 1941 while escorting a convoy in the Mediterranean, and she was repaired in the United States. The battleship Littorio was renamed Italia in 1943.
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