14. Before Pearl Harbor, There Was Taranto
History’s first use of carrier airplanes to attack defended warships occurred on the night of November 11 – 12, 1940. That was when the British Royal Navy launched 21 obsolescent Swordfish biplane torpedo bombers from the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious against the Italian fleet anchored at Taranto. The Italian ships were protected by torpedo nets, surrounded by barrage balloons and antiaircraft guns, and thought they were immune. In the days preceding the attack, RAF photo-reconnaissance confirmed the presence of the Italian fleet in Taranto, and identified the various ships’ locations, especially the battleships. Final plans were then formed, and a strike force was prepared. A first wave of 12 Swordfish biplanes, half armed with torpedoes and the other half with bombs and flares, was launched from the Illustrious at 9 PM, November 11th, followed by a second wave of 9 Swordfish 90 minutes later.
The leading Swordfish dropped illumination flares, then bombed the port’s oil storage facilities while other planes launched torpedoes at anchored battleships. The second wave arrived shortly before midnight, dropped flares, and launched torpedoes. In under two hours, the biplanes struck three battleships and several cruisers, and severely damaged the port’s installations, for the loss of two planes and four crewmen. The Italians lost half their capital ships that night, and the following day, transferred their surviving ships to the greater safety of Naples. It was a raid that revolutionized warfare, and changed the course of history by ushering in the ascendancy of naval aviation and the aircraft carrier over battleships. Other navies took a keen interest in what the British had done at Taranto, and Japanese observers of the Imperial fleet in particular paid close attention. US Navy observers did not, to America’s detriment a year later at Pearl Harbor.
