A Desperate Situation in the Mediterranean
As France surrendered in June 1940, Britain stood alone against the Axis powers in a rapidly deteriorating naval situation. The Royal Navy now faced the daunting task of simultaneously confronting German U-boats in the Atlantic and Mussolini’s formidable Italian fleet in the Mediterranean – a two-front naval war that stretched British resources dangerously thin.
The strategic calculus appeared grim. Italy’s Regia Marina boasted an impressive force: 6 battleships, 7 heavy cruisers, 12 light cruisers, 61 destroyers, and 105 submarines. Against this, Admiral Andrew Cunningham’s Mediterranean Fleet could muster only 1 aircraft carrier, 3 battleships, 7 cruisers and 26 destroyers based at Alexandria, supplemented by the smaller Force H at Gibraltar with another carrier and battleship.
Italian naval strategy compounded Britain’s numerical disadvantage. The cautious Admiral Inigo Campioni kept his fleet safely anchored at Taranto harbor, only venturing out for brief strikes against British convoys before scurrying back to port. This conservative approach denied Cunningham the decisive fleet engagement he sought, while Italian ships continued threatening vital British supply lines to North Africa.
The Birth of a Bold Plan
Facing this stalemate, Cunningham – a veteran of 40 years naval service – recognized that conventional tactics would fail. His strategic insight identified two critical advantages: Britain’s carrier airpower and Italian ships’ notoriously thin armor protection. While Italy relied on separate air force cooperation, the Royal Navy controlled its own organic air capability through HMS Illustrious and HMS Eagle.
The concept of attacking Taranto itself wasn’t new. As early as 1935, then-Commander Lumley Lyster had developed plans for carrier strikes against the harbor during the Abyssinia Crisis. Rediscovering these plans in 1940, Lyster (now a rear admiral) found a receptive audience in Cunningham. The stage was set for Operation Judgment – an unprecedented carrier raid that would change naval warfare forever.
Taranto: The Impregnable Fortress
Geography made Taranto a natural naval stronghold. Nestled in the “instep” of Italy’s boot-shaped peninsula, the harbor consisted of an outer Grande Bay and inner Mar Piccolo, protected by anti-torpedo nets, barrage balloons, and 300 anti-aircraft guns. Base commander Arturo Riccardi proudly boasted his defenses made Taranto “impregnable.”
British intelligence, however, had identified weaknesses. Young officer Lieutenant Pollock, analyzing aerial reconnaissance photos in Cairo, noticed puzzling white dots that revealed the barrage balloon defenses. More crucially, the British had developed a secret weapon: magnetic torpedoes that could pass under protective nets to explode beneath ships’ vulnerable hulls.
The Strike Force Prepares
HMS Illustrious, commissioned just four months earlier, represented Britain’s technological edge. This 23,000-ton armored carrier could withstand 500-pound bombs while carrying 36 aircraft – mostly obsolete Fairey Swordfish biplanes. These slow, canvas-and-wire “Stringbags” seemed comically outdated, but their agility made them perfect for night torpedo attacks.
Under Captain Denis Boyd, a former torpedo specialist, the Swordfish underwent critical modifications. Crews removed rear gunners to add auxiliary fuel tanks, while pilots trained relentlessly in night flying and low-level torpedo runs. Boyd insisted on using the new magnetic torpedoes, set to run deeper than Italian defenses anticipated.
Operation Judgment Unfolds
Originally planned for October 21 (Trafalgar Day), the operation was delayed when an accidental hangar fire damaged aircraft. Finally, on November 11, 1940, Illustrious launched her strike force from 170 miles away – 21 Swordfish in two waves, armed with torpedoes, bombs, and flares.
The first wave encountered heavy flak as they approached at 11:00 PM. Lieutenant Commander Kenneth Williamson led his torpedo bombers through balloon cables at wave-top height. Despite losing his own plane (and becoming a POW), Williamson’s torpedo struck the battleship Conte di Cavour, sinking it in shallow water. Other planes crippled the new battleship Littorio with three torpedo hits.
The second wave, arriving an hour later, finished off Littorio and damaged the battleship Caio Duilio. When the last Swordfish departed, Italy had lost half its battle fleet in 65 minutes – at a cost of just two British aircraft.
The Aftermath and Strategic Impact
The psychological impact proved even greater than material damage. The Italian fleet withdrew to Naples, conceding Mediterranean dominance to Britain. This allowed crucial resupply of Malta and North African forces, directly contributing to later British victories against Rommel.
Globally, Taranto demonstrated carrier aviation’s potential. In Tokyo, Admiral Yamamoto studied the attack carefully while planning Pearl Harbor. The U.S. Navy immediately reevaluated its own harbor defenses. Overnight, battleships had been dethroned as fleet centerpieces by aircraft carriers.
Legacy of a Naval Revolution
Taranto’s true significance lay in proving a revolutionary concept: that airpower could decisively engage fleets in port. Cunningham’s vision and the Swordfish crews’ bravery had rewritten naval doctrine. As Captain Boyd told the rescued Williamson when awarding his medal in 1945: “I’ve kept this for you for five years – you earned it that night at Taranto.”
The attack’s success stemmed from combining innovative technology (magnetic torpedoes, radar-equipped carriers) with tactical surprise and meticulous planning. It showcased how a numerically inferior force could achieve disproportionate results through asymmetric thinking – a lesson resonating through subsequent military history.
Taranto marked the dawn of carrier-centric naval warfare that would dominate the Pacific theater. Its legacy endures in modern power projection strategies, proving that sometimes, the most effective way to sink a battleship is not with a bigger gun, but with a small plane carrying a well-placed torpedo.