The Whale Has Wings Vol 2 - Taranto to Singapore (2 page)

Finally, a number of submarines had been stationed in the straights of Messina. This was to try and cover possible routes that any damaged ships leaving Taranto would follow. It was expected that due to the rather random nature of an attack, some ships would be damaged rather than sunk. These might try to leave the next day, but in any case it was considered certain they would leave after the second nights attack.

On the 20th, air reconnaissance was carried out from Malta. The island now had six reconnaissance Whirlwinds available, and would conduct missions over Taranto, Naples, and the Sicilian airfields as well as possible targets in close proximity of these in order to try and conceal the actual target. The plane covering Taranto revealed a heavy concentration of ships, including all six of the Italians modern battleships. The photographs were flown out to Cunningham's fleet on a SeaLance which had been sent on to Malta earlier for just this task. As soon as they were looked at, the mission was approved - this was an even better set of targets than had been hoped for.

The photographic analysis showed that Taranto harbour was currently hosting six battleships (the Littorio, Andrea Doria, Vittorio Veneto, Cavour, Duilio and Cesare) and three heavy cruisers in the outer harbour. In addition there were two heavy cruisers, 21 destroyers and 16 submarines and 9 tankers in the inner harbour. There were considerable torpedo net and barrage balloon defences, but the analysis showed that although the coverage of the netting was extensive, it did not completely protect the battleships. It was not in fact realised by the British, but the torpedo netting was in fact far less effective than was thought. Taranto required some 12,800m of netting to properly protect the battleships anchored there, and there was only some 9,000m in place. However the netting was designed to protect against contact fuses - the duplex torpedoes the FAA would launch could slip right under the nets. As a result the torpedo attack would prove to be considerably more effective than anticipated (it should be noted though that not all the torpedoes used the duplex fuse).

Because of concerns that searchlight aimed at the low-flying torpedo planes would dazzle the pilots and cause them problems, the dive bombers would go in at the same time, to confuse and split the numerous searchlight positions defending the port. There was also a supporting attack planned using RAF Wellingtons flying from Malta - the RAF commander there had been busy begging, borrowing and sometimes being suspected of stealing every Wellington he could find in theatre. These planes would not be bombing the ships; they had a different target.

At 1900 the carriers in Force H started to launch their strike. A total of 24 TBR (six of them carrying flares, the rest bombs) and 32 divebombers (carrying 500lb bombs) took off for Naples. A number of planes were non-operational, but there were sufficient spare SeaLance to replace them; all serviceable Cormorants were flown. At the moment, Force H believed themselves not to be under observation; they had been detected the day before by a couple of planes, one of which had been shot down. However for some reason no attack had developed.

At 2230 the main carrier force started to launch. They had also moved into position without detection. Again, a number of planes were unserviceable, but the maximum strike possible was arranged on deck for the first launch - these planes would have the greatest surprise on their side. A total of 42 SeaLance carrying torpedoes, plus 39 Cormorants, six with flares the rest with 1,000lb bombs would soon be heading for Taranto harbour. The carriers had the second wave already armed and fuelled in the hangers ready to be spotted on deck once the first waves had taken off - a dangerous risk, but one which was considered worth taking for a surprise night attack. They would be on their way less than an hour after the first wave and would arrive some 30 minutes after them. This consisted of twelve torpedo armed SeaLance, four Cormorants with flares and another eighteen with 1,000lb bombs. The luxury of an undetected approach to the night attack had allowed a higher than normal number of serviceable aircraft. A number of Cormorants had had to be left behind due to a problem with fuel contamination; although it was possible to fuel on deck using a portable system (this had been instituted after the issue of keeping aircraft ready on deck while attack was imminent was seen to be important), the tight timescale meant four Cormorants had to be left behind.

At about the same time, a force of 16 Wellington bombers lifted off from Malta bound for Taranto. Operation Judgement was on its way.

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The aircraft from Force H neared Naples at about 2200 that night. They only had approximate details of what ships were at Naples (only two destroyers and three submarines, plus some merchant ships), and so the dive bombers had been told to target the oil tanks first, the second group being given the ships in harbour as targets of opportunity. The SeaLance's were tasked with first completing the destruction of the oil tanks, then to bomb as much of the port facilities as they could.

The attack seemed to take Naples by surprise, even though it had been visited by a reconnaissance plane earlier (the RAF had been running reconnaissance flights over various targets for the last week in order to mask the real target areas), and as a result the first half of the dive bombers weren't even fired on before they started they dives onto the oil installations. Even a 500lb bomb starts an impressive fire when it hits an oil tank, and 10 minutes after the start of the attack the oil tanks were burning merrily. The results were so good that the raid commander ordered the bombers to target the ships in the harbour instead of the now-blazing oil installations.

While the first group of dive bombers retired from the oil storage facility, the eighteen bomb-carrying SeaLance engaged the ships in the harbour. By now the defences had been alerted, but seemed rather uncoordinated (the defences had previously only encountered high level raids from the RAF), and only one SeaLance was shot down. In return, two submarines and two merchant ships were left sunk or sinking.

It had only required 20 of the dive bombers to reduce the oil tanks to an inferno, and so the remaining twelve planes were ordered to target the destroyers lying in the harbour. At anchor, a destroyer is a much easier target than when it is manoeuvring at full speed. One destroyer was hit by two 500lb bombs, and was left sinking; a second was hit by one bomb, and although badly damaged was saved by the prompt actions of its crew. One dive bomber was lost in this attack to the destroyers AA fire.

The job finished, the strike headed back to the Force H carriers; as soon as they had been struck below deck, the force turned south to head back to Gibraltar, and readied the fighters on deck ready for the morning. Total losses would be two Cormorants and one SeaLance (which failed to return, probably due to fuel loss), although a further five planes were written off due to combat damage.

Taranto, 2300 (first strike)

Taranto, a major naval base, was rather more awake that Naples. At the first sound of the approaching aircraft, the searchlights lit up, searching the skies for them. It took a while, because they were looking in the wrong place - again, the Italians were expecting a high-altitude bombing attack by RAF planes. This allowed the first waves of attackers to get into position before an alert operator realised what was happening, and the defences started to illuminate the correct areas.

The first planes to attack was a group of twelve dive bombers carrying 1,000 lb bombs - targets the oil storage tanks overlooking the harbour. The tanks were illuminated by one of the flare aircraft, and the bombers turned into their dives as soon as they could see the target. Oil tanks are big, bulky, and don't manoeuvre out of the way of a bomb nearly as well as a ship. One aircraft was hit by AA fire (it ditched in the harbour), but as the other eleven pulled out of their dives the oil storage depot was rapidly becoming a mass of flames.

While the noise of exploding bombs (and a number of exploding oil tanks) was distracting the defenders, a torpedo strike was going in against the battleships. The time of the raid had been carefully planned so the rising moon, as well as the flares, helped to silhouette the targets. The netting surrounding the ships limited the angles of approach of the planes, and once they had been spotted it was clear that the Italian AA guns knew this also. Fortunately for the attackers, the chance of hitting a plane at night was still very low. The first attack by nine SeaLance targeted the modern battleship Littorio. While getting into a good attacking position through the barrage balloons ready to avoid the netting was difficult, the ship itself was a lovely big, stationary target. The torpedo bombers attacked straight into the battleships AA fire, which shot down one of the planes - although it dropped its torpedo when hit, no-one knew where it went. The other eight planes were far more successful - three torpedoes hit the battleship (it was not until much later in the war that the Royal Navy found out for certain that the nets were indeed useless against deep-running torpedoes), tearing large holes in her. The Pugliese Torpedo Defence System was probably the least effective of any in use in WW2, especially against the duplex fuse, and two of the holes were very large for aerial torpedoes.

At the same time, another group of nine planes were aiming their torpedoes at the Vittorio Venetto (the other modern battleship at anchor). Two of the planes were caught in searchlights, and although both escaped without being shot down (although not without damage), this caused them to miss badly with their torpedoes. The other seven planes had more luck. The huge plumes of water showed two torpedo hits, which again caused sizeable holes below the waterline. One plane was shot down by the shore-based AA as it made its escape.

Next to receive the friendly interest of the FAA was the modernised battleship Cavour. In order to work their way around the defences, and also to help reduce the chance of the torpedoes 'bottoming out' the planes were flying as slowly as practical. While the massed AA fire and the searchlights weren't doing a wonderful job of shooting down the attackers, they were causing some confusion and loss of night vision. One of the pilots, somewhat disorientated and concentrating on his target, asked his observer where the balloon barrage he was supposed to be avoiding was. He was told 'we've flown through the bloody thing once, and we're just about to do it again'.

Another strike of nine planes swept in at 50 feet towards the Cavour. The Cavour was an old battleship, which had been completely rebuilt before the war, but she was still small and relatively poorly protected compared to a modern design. Only seven of the planes managed to drop their torpedoes. Two were hit on the way in; one dropped into the harbour, the second managed to get away, damaged, by dropping its torpedo, which went somewhere. Nowhere near the ship, unfortunately. However the remaining planes registered two hits on the old ship. The terrible underwater damage caused to her old hull left her sinking into the mud of the harbour (although this was not immediately realised)

The last of the first four torpedo strikes was aimed at the Cesare, another modernised old ship. Or at least that had been the idea, but the lead crew had got rather confused by all the illumination and pyrotechnics flying about and instead were actually aiming at the Duilio. Again, this old ship had been heavily rebuilt, but was still well below modern standards. By now the defences were beginning to get an idea of what the planes were aiming at, and although the first flight of three planes got their attack off successfully, two of the next flight crashed into the water. The defences also shot down one of the final flight. Despite this, the six surviving planes managed two hits on the ship. Again, the old ship was damaged badly underwater by the hits, although the crew managed to hold the flooding at bay before it got out of control

While the torpedo attacks had been going in at low level, the dive bombers had been circling high above. This had attracted the attention of some of the AA fire, but hitting a small plane at night without radar was proving difficult - so difficult that so far none of them had been hit, and it helped to reduce the fire being aimed at the vulnerable torpedo planes.

The first group of twelve planes dove onto the Andrea Doria. She had been chosen because even though modernised, her deck armour was less than 4" thick. She would be the first ship to be attacked by the new 1,600lb AP bomb, as this should penetrate her deck easily (the newer battleships had much thicker deck armour, and it was not certain if even the AP bombs would penetrate). In fact, even some of the 1,000 bombs would penetrate the poor deck armour of the ship. The first six planes were carrying the AP bombs, and the attack caught the defences by surprise - they were still concentrating on the torpedo planes. As a result the first two flights made a textbook attack on the helpless ship, hitting her with three of their six bombs. One of the AP bombs didn't explode (it was later found it had speared straight through the armoured deck and actually made a hole as it exited the ship!). The other two worked as advertised; although they didn't carry the explosive content of the smaller GP bombs, they sent thick, heavy splinters of their casing in all directions, penetrating bulkheads, and managing to wreck the forward engine rooms. They also caused flooding as the splinters tore their way out through the side of the ship.