Italian fleet surprised at Taranto

11th November 1940: A night attack by Royal Navy carrier-based aircraft foreshadows 'Pearl Harbour' by a year

Taranto Harbour, Swordfish from ‘Illustrious’ Cripple the Italian Fleet, 11 November 1940 Charles David Cobb (1921–2014) National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth.

The potential for Naval Aviation to dramatically alter the strategies and tactics of the war at sea had been considered by many theorists since the First World War. At Taranto a single raid by slow, seemingly obsolete, bi-planes suddenly shattered many long cherished beliefs about the power of Battleships and naval gunnery.

A possible attack on the Italian naval base at Taranto had been planned and prepared by the Royal Navy before the war. The operation called for the Fleet Air Arm to make a surprise attack with the carrier aircraft they had available. In 1940 that meant the Swordfish aircraft would have to make a long distance approach with auxiliary fuel tanks.

The Fairey Swordfish biplane, which entered service in 1936, appeared obsolete but scored many notable torpedo hits during the war.[

The attack was in two waves. The first, departing at 20:00, had twelve aircraft, and the second, at 21:00, nine. In each wave, six aircraft had 18-inch torpedoes, with a secret duplex fuse which could detonate under a ship by sensing its magnetic presence, as well as on contact. The remaining aircraft carried bombs and flares.