On October 21st, a British fleet of 4 battleships and battlecruisers, 10 cruisers and 4 destroyers - along with the aircraft carriers HMS Illustrious and HMS Eagle - moved into position to activate Operation Judgment. Carrier Eagle began suffering from mechanical problems forcing her Swordfish aircraft onto the HMS Illustrious. A fire aboard the Illustrious compounded issues and the attack was delayed for some time, though this set up an opportunity for the Royal Navy to conduct some daring reconnaissance flights against Taranto and her heavy flak defenses. The opposition included up to 6 Italian battleships, 27 destroyers and 14 cruisers - not to mention ground-based flak teams, no fewer than 90 barrage balloons and a torpedo net spanning the mouth of the harbor. The decision for the Royal Navy was essentially made - the attack would take on these Italian vessels while they still lay in port with little to no room to maneuver out of the way of bombs and torpedoes.
Luck, it would seem, was on the side of the English this day. A previous storm earlier in the week had destroyed or put out of operation commission up to 63 of the 90 barrage balloons. Any Italian air force patrol aircraft - these usually in the form of lumbering flying boats - were dealt with quickly by the Royal Navy, containing the element of surprise a while longer. British assault could now count on this element in its attack - a tacticians dream come true. On November 9th, the HMS Illustrious had moved into her assigned position. The next day, the Italian air force was alerted to the approaching fleet and launched an attack with bombers though, fortunately for the Allies, this attack had little effect on the fleet and the Italians lost one bomber.
At 10:00PM on November 11th, the HMS Illustrious, now near the Greek island of Cephalonia, unleashed the first wave of Swordfish torpedo bombers against Taranto. An hour later, the Swordfish were at their targets with lead planes dropping targeting flares. The Italian battleship Cavour took a single direct hit from a torpedo while the Doria was hit twice at the bow. The Littorio was also struck at her starboard bow and then again at her starboard stern. The Libeccio was hit but the torpedo failed to detonate.
At 11:35PM, the second wave of Swordfish torpedo bombers were airborne, commencing attack by 11:50PM. The oil depot was targeted and attacked by lead Swordfish flare aircraft but with little damage to show for it. A single torpedo struck the bow of the battleship Mar Grande. The burning and sinking Littorio was struck once more while the Trento was hit with a drop bomb that failed to explode. The battleship Vittorio Veneto somehow managed its way - unscathed - out of the harbor in the early morning hours. By 1:22AM, the all-clear at the harbor was sounded and the attack on Taranto was officially over.
At the cost of just two Swordfish to three Italian battleships, the Royal Navy enacted a brazen operation to knock out Italian dominance of the Mediterranean in one swoop and they did so with astounding success. It bears note that three other Swordfish were lost before the attack due to engine failure though these losses were later attributed to contaminated aviation fuel supplies. In the end, the Swordfish had completed a hard day's work with much progress to show for it, showcasing the resilience of this "little" aircraft and the bravery of her crews throughout.
If there were one singular event in the history of the Swordfish that would bear mention, it would be its involvement in the hunt for the German battleship KMS Bismarck. The Bismarck and her German surface counterparts were charged with the destruction of Allied shipping in the North Atlantic. Even Winston Churchill realized the important of the ability to resupply his island and muttered the phrase "without ships, we cannot live". As such, the Royal Navy was called upon once again to hunt down the Bismarck and deal an ultimate logistical blow to the Kriegsmarine and ultimately Hitler's ego itself.
The Bismarck proved something of an anomaly for a time, able to seemingly disappear from Royal Navy warships charged with shadowing her and from reconnaissance aircraft meant to relay her exact location. This all changed on May 26th, however, as the Bismarck's location was pinpointed and followed up by Swordfish aircraft launching from the carrier HMS Ark Royal that afternoon. Despite fierce anti-aircraft fire the slow-moving, low-flying Swordfish aircraft proved a hard target to hit for the Bismarck's advanced gunnery systems. Flak itself was relatively useless at extremely low altitudes. Two Swordfish torpedoes managed to find their mark with the second torpedo proving to be fatal for the grand warship. This torpedo managed to strike the stern area and render the Bismarck's rudder inoperable. The rudder was locked in such a way that the large vessel was restricted to making an infinite turn as its engines pushed the vessel forward. This debilitating blow would be the death warrant for the battleship and her crew for the Bismarck was to sink under heavy Royal Navy bombardment in a short 13 hours. Only 115 German sailors would be rescued from the vessel.
The Fairey Swordfish managed an important existence throughout the whole of the war. Combat squadrons lasted until 1945 while trainer groups were utilized as late as 1946 - a true testament to design and durability of this fine aircraft. The Swordfish series was inevitably replaced in its roles by the much improved Fairey Barracuda - this a monoplane wing design. The Fairey Albacore biplane was introduced during the early 1940's in an attempt to replace the Swordfish but the Swordfish somehow managed to outlive her competition to fight on a bit longer. The Alabacore became history before the Swordfish.
The Fairey Swordfish gained the affectionate nickname of "Ole Stringbag" during its operational run. Though one might assume to associate this nickname to the design and construction of the seemingly archaic biplane, the name was actually derived from the ability of the Swordfish to mount a plethora of munition options. This versatility fared comparatively well with a contemporary housewives "string" shopping bag, having the same uncanny ability to shape itself into whatever was placed inside. Hence the nickname "Ole Stringbag" was in fact a compliment to the aircraft.
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