Battle of Taranto

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Battle of Taranto
By Cadet Estrada
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• 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 battle in history, flying a
  small number of aircraft from a single aircraft
  carrier in the Mediterranean and attacking the
  Italian fleet at Taranto. Britain won the battle
  in what newsmen around the world saw as the end
  of the "big gun" ship and the rise of naval air
  power

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• The Italians, who wanted to cut the British naval
  lifeline to Africa, were reluctant to risk their
  fleet in a battle with the British. They
  preferred to keep them safely moored in port,
  with the threat of them coming out enough to
  force the British to be conservative. This is the
  theory of Fleet in Being.

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• At the time this "fleet-in-being" 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

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To reduce the threat posed by the Italian fleet
based in the port of Taranto to convoys sailing
to Malta, Admiral Cunningham organized an attack
code-named Operation Judgement.
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Taranto is located in Southeast Italy, on the
western side of the "heel" of the Italian boot,
on the Gulf of Taranto on the Ionian Sea. All six
of the Italian battleships of the 5th and 9th
Divisions were in port on the night of the
attack. The new British armored carrier,
"Illustrious", approached undetected to within
170 miles of the base and launched two strikes of
torpedo-carrying Swordfish aircraft, some of
which were from the complement of "Eagle
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The night of November 11th, a few miles off the
Greek island of Cephalonia, about 170 miles from
Taranto, the Illustrious released her Swordfish
aircraft which, undetected, reached Taranto in
two waves of 12 and 9 airplanes each. One of the
planes in the first wave, due to a navigational
error, reached Taranto 15 minutes before the rest
of the squadron, causing the antiaircraft
defenses to go into full alert.
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• This was the first time in history that an
  attack such as this had been attempted. It was a
  great success. The Royal Navy crippled or
  destroyed three Italian battleships in the Battle
  of Taranto.

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The End