Raid on Taranto, Operation Judgement

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[80 years ago today]

 

"- At around 2100 hours, [the aircraft carrier HMS] Illustrious launches twenty-one Swordfish in two waves to attack the Italian Fleet Base at Taranto.

- In port are modern battleships Vittorio Veneto and Littorio, older battleships Conti di Cavour, Andrea Doria, Caio Duilio, and Giulio Cesare, seven heavy cruisers, two light cruisers, a seaplane tender, twenty-one destroyers, and sixteen submarines.

- Two Swordfish armed with flares and bombs illuminate the harbor then dive bomb fuel oil storage tanks. Ten Swordfish then launch torpedoes from very low altitude into the 40 foot deep harbour, which was considered safe from torpedo attack. The Swordfish have been modified with an attached drum with a wire to the nose of the torpedo. Tension as the wire unspools then releases causes the torpedo to land flat into the shallow harbour instead of nose first.

 

 

- Italy has heavy anti-aircraft defenses but no radar, depending on searchlights and acoustic locators. The Swordfish prove elusive targets in the darkness. Conti di Cavour shoots down one attacker but the torpedo had already been launched and it blows a 27 foot hole in her hull, causing her to settle to the bottom. Two more torpedoes hit the Littorio, causing her to settle until her bow is on the bottom while the stern remains afloat. Torpedoes launched at Vittorio Veneto and Andrea Doria explode on the harbor floor. The latter receives shock damage.

- The second wave comes in three hours later and Vittorio Veneto is again missed, though Littorio is hit again and Caio Dulio takes a hit that floods her forward spaces. Heavy cruiser Gorizia shoots down a second Swordfish.

- The Italians suffer 59 killed and 600 wounded. The British lose two aircrew killed and two captured.

- In a stroke the balance of power in the Mediterranean is changed. Surviving fleet units will be withdrawn to Naples, and while Littorio and Duilio are returned to service within six months, Conti di Cavour will never be operational again. Mediterranean Fleet Commander Sir Andrew Cunningham congratulates the flight and carrier crews with:
 

• “Taranto, and the night of November 11–12, 1940, should be remembered for ever as having shown once and for all that in the Fleet Air Arm the Navy has its most devastating weapon.”

- Japan will send a naval mission to Taranto to intensively study every aspect of the raid.

 

 

[Swordfish recovered at Tranto. Swordfish 4A torpedoed Conti di Cavour--her crew survived but were captured]

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