Taranto attacked by Royal Navy Fairey Swordfish

This is a CGI creation of Fairey Swordfish attacking Taranto in Italy 1940. The Royal Navy were able to launch a sneak attack with these obsolete biplanes and catch the Italian fleet at anchor in the port of Taranto. They managed to inflict great damage and return with the loss of two planes.

The Japanese made a study of this British attack and would learn things for 1941 when their carrier forces launched a devastating attack on the USA at Perl Harbour.

Fairey Swordfish attack on Bismarck.

During World War Two, Germany and Italy had some very fine battleships but no aircraft carriers. The Germans had the Graf Zeppelin aircraft carrier but it was never fully completed and never saw active service with aircraft. This was a big miss for the two Axis powers and gave the Royal Navy an advantage at sea with obsolete aircraft called Fairey Swordfish (Stringbags.) Far out at sea, the Fairey Swordfish had no rival because enemy, land based, aircraft could not reach them.

These antiquated biplanes were able to attack huge battleships and inflict serious damage. In 1941 the stringbag was responsible for bringing about the battleship Bismarck's terrible demise. The formidable German ship broke out into the Atlantic to hunt British convoys. She could fall upon the merchants ships like a wolf upon sheep. The Bismarck destroyed a British Battleship called H.M.S. Hood with over 1,500 crew when her huge guns scored a direct hit on the Hood's Magazine. Only three sailors survived the horrendous attack.

As Bismarck cruised on, a British aircraft carrier sent out Fairey Swordfish to make a number of attacks upon the German Battleship. They could not sink her, but were able to inflict crippling damage to Bismarck's rudder.

The Royal Navy was then able to close in with many ships from different directions and destroy Bismarck - a huge ship that succumb on her first mission, due to the obsolete Fairey Swordfish (Stringbag.) 

Italian Battleships of WWII - Vittorio Veneto and Roma

The above YouTube clip is a tribute to the Littorio Class Battleship Roma - also referered to as the Vittorio Vento Class after the Vittorio Vento Battleship.



Vittorio Vento class Roma

The grand Italian Battleship of World War II was an unlucky ship in many ways because she never lived up to her potential despite being of a fabulous design. The Vittorio Vento was a real state of the art ship in her time, but sadly for the Italian Navy, she lacked a good aircraft carrier which denied an otherwise good fleet of much needed air protection. This would become a bad handicap against Great Britain's Royal Navy.



Vittorio Vento

 In November 1940 Vittorio Vento took part in the Battle of Teulada and her huge guns fired a salvo of shells that forced seven British cruisers to retreat. Then in the following March of 1941 during the Battle of Cape Matapan, Vittorio Vento again forced four cruisers and three destroyers to retreat. However, lack of air cover allowed a torpedo plan to inflict damage on the Italian battleship. She was forced to retreat back to Italy with the rest of the fleet forming a ring of protection around her. There followed a second air attack and a night time engagement against the Royal Navy, which resulted in the Italian loss of three heavy cruisers and two destroyers.

The Italian Navy had taken a bad mauling with these losses, but Vittorio Vento got back to Italy. She under went repairs and was moved to another port where the Italian armistice brought about an end to Italian participation in World War II.

In June of 1943 Vittorio Vento with other Italian ships left port for Malta to surrender the fleet over to the Royal Navy and participation on the allied side against Germany. On route, German bombers attacked the Italian fleet with Fritz-X bombs inflicting damage on much of the fleet and taking out another Littorio Class sister ship called Roma. She (Roma) was struck by two bombs and one exploded inside her magazine, causing a secondary explosion of ammunition. This caused a great many casualties among the crew as Roma capsized and sank. It was a day of disaster for the Italian navy caught in limbo after her war had ended.

Vittorio Vento did make it to Malta and was taken as compensation by the Royal Navy, though the Battleship was returned when the war ended. She was scrapped in 1948, which was a great sadness as she might have made a wonderful example of a state of the art WWII Battleship museum - the Vittorio Vento and Roma were a splendid ships.

Royal Navy Fairy Swordfish Plane (String Bag)

The Fairy Swordfish (nicknamed: the string bag) was an outdated biplane that performed amazingly well during the early stages of the World War II. She was used on board British aircraft carriers and to good effect. I think much of her success was because the plane could function in areas where she had no competition from much faster fighter aircraft. At sea, land-based fighter aircraft, that the enemy might try to send out, where out of range. She could attack enemy fleets at sea. Italy and Germany never used aircraft carriers. Germany had one but it was never modified to go into action.

On one occasion the British used the string bag to attack the Italian fleet when docked at Taranto. It was a night attack and it took the Italians by surprise. It caused tremendous damage to the Italian Navy and the string bag would be responsible for other major hits upon the Italian fleet at sea.

The string bags were also responsible for crippling the German Battleship Bismark by dropping torpedoes. One of these damaged and jammed the great ship's rudder. It allowed the Royal Navy to close in on the stricken ship from all directions and sink the German ship. This caused tremendous damage to Germany's surface fleet in WWII. It elevated the slumbering Swordfish to hero status among the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy. So much damage by an almost obsolete biplane.

Perhaps the string bags became over confident with such an affectionate and overinflated reputation. It had performed and punched above its expected weight. After these early successes, the Fleet Air Arm of the \Royal Navy, became overbold because they attempted to use the string bag in an attack upon German ships in the Channel close to northern France. This operation went preposterously wrong. Close to land, the Germans sent up intercepting fighter planes and every string bag was lost as the mission failed in diabolical shambles. 

As the string bags attempted to abort and return to base they were so slow that the German fighters pursuing overshot the lumbering British planes before a concentrated fire could be focused on the fleeing Swordfish. The German fighters realised they had to lower their landing wheels to slow down enough as they fell behind the lumbering string bags. This allowed them to remain in range long enough to let off a substantial burst of machine gun fire. 

This incident brought home the reality of the Fairy Swordfish's limitations. She remained a much-loved plane because of early exploits in the war and her allure is affectionate because of some amazing feats performed by such a modest craft. There are still some left today, and I have seen them at air shows. The Fairy Swordfish (string bag) is still a great favourite of mine.

Battleship Bismarck's final moments.

The Stringbags (Fairy Swordfish aeroplanes) managed to cripple the Bismark's rudder, jamming it so the mighty battleship could only go round in circles. The Royal Navy realise and close in for the kill. What followed was a mighty sea battle and Bismark's last fight. Her first maiden voyage was to be her last.