Battle of Taranto

11–12 November 1940, Taranto harbour, Italy

British victory; three Italian battleships put out of action

The first attack on a fleet in harbour by carrier aircraft alone. Illustrious flew off 21 Swordfish biplanes about 170 miles from Taranto, in two waves an hour apart, five of them from Eagle, which had been kept back by defects. Flares and bombs lit up the harbour and distracted the gunners while the torpedo bombers came in low, between the barrage balloons and over the anti-torpedo nets, which reached only part of the way down. Littorio was hit by three torpedoes, Caio Duilio and Conte di Cavour by one each; Cavour sank in the harbour and never sailed again. Two Swordfish were shot down and two men killed. In one night half the Italian battle fleet was out of action, and the rest was moved to Naples. Japanese naval officers studied the attack closely before Pearl Harbor.