2194days

Mediterranean and North Africa · Britain vs Italy

Attack on Taranto

11 November 1940 – 12 November 1940

Twenty-one Swordfish from HMS Illustrious attacked the Italian fleet at anchor in Taranto by night. Three battleships were torpedoed for the loss of two aircraft, and the balance of naval power in the Mediterranean shifted overnight.

Explore Attack on Taranto on the interactive map · Wikipedia

Day by day

— Flying off

Illustrious was detached from the fleet at dusk and flew off twenty-one Swordfish from a position 170 miles south-east of Taranto, the first wave at 20:40 and the second at 21:20. Eleven of them carried torpedoes running shallow on wooden drum tails; the rest had bombs and flares. Six Italian battleships lay in the Mar Grande behind nets and balloons, with the heavy cruisers in the Mar Piccolo beyond the swing bridge.

— Three battleships

Flares laid along the eastern shore lit the anchorage and the torpedo aircraft came in low from the west, under the balloon cables. Conte di Cavour was hit once and sank on the bottom, and never went to sea again; Littorio took three torpedoes and Caio Duilio one, and both were out of the war for six months. Two Swordfish were lost. The surviving heavy ships sailed for Naples that morning, and half the Italian battle fleet had been disabled in an hour by twenty-one obsolete biplanes.

The Italian battleship CONTE DI CAVOUR after the Taranto attack. Only her funnels and super-structure remain above the water
The Italian battleship CONTE DI CAVOUR after the Taranto attack. Only her funnels and super-structure remain above the waterPhotographer not identified. "Official photograph". · Public domain · source
AWM: TARANTO, ITALY, 1940-11. AERIAL VIEW SHOWING AFTERMATH OF ACTION AGAINST THE ITALIAN FLEET IN TARANTO HARBOUR. NHHC: Italian BB LITTORIO of Littorio Class (1937-1948). Ship later renamed ITALIA. Photo 1940. November
AWM: TARANTO, ITALY, 1940-11. AERIAL VIEW SHOWING AFTERMATH OF ACTION AGAINST THE ITALIAN FLEET IN TARANTO HARBOUR. NHHC: Italian BB LITTORIO of Littorio Class (1937-1948). Ship later renamed ITALIA. Photo 1940. NovemberAustralian War Memorial · Public domain · source
Swordfish
SwordfishTony Hisgett from Birmingham, UK · CC BY 2.0 · source
Looking down from the International Space Station on the Italian coastline through a powerful (1150 millimeter) zoom lens, an astronaut shot this detailed photograph of the city of Taranto. It is Italy’s major southern p
Looking down from the International Space Station on the Italian coastline through a powerful (1150 millimeter) zoom lens, an astronaut shot this detailed photograph of the city of Taranto. It is Italy’s major southern pAstronaut photo from ISS, SS Crew Earth Observations Facility and the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, Johnson Spa · Public domain · source

Equipment in this battle

Also in Mediterranean and North Africa