Taranto: The Royal Navy's WW2 Masterpiece

Video Description

What happened in the Battle Of Taranto? Did the raid on Taranto catch the Italian defenders by surprise? How many Swordfish attacked the Italian fleet stationed at Taranto? Join James Holland and Al Murray for the second part of this mini-series exploring the Fairey Swordfish biplane torpedo bomber, and the brave crews of the Fleet Air Arm who achieved incredible victories in an 'obsolete' airframe. WW2 Pod: We Have Ways of Making You Talk Listen: linktr.ee/wehaveways 00:00 Opening eyewitness account: Swordfish over Taranto 01:17 Charles Lamb and War in a String Bag 02:08 Why the Swordfish was the right aircraft for the job 04:48 Life in the Fleet Air Arm and carrier warfare realities 05:00 Strategic context: Taranto, MB8, and British intentions 06:49 The Italian fleet and why Taranto mattered 07:12 Defences, intelligence, and torpedo depth problem 08:32 Planning the raid: waves, weapons, and roles 10:46 Operation Judgement begins: launch from Illustrious 12:40 En route to Taranto: separation, navigation, and risk 15:14 Italian early warning and loss of surprise 16:22 Approaching the target under heavy fire 18:10 Flares over the harbour and distraction tactics 20:08 The first torpedo runs at sea level 22:01 Aircraft losses, survival, and Italian reactions 24:05 Successful hits on Italian battleships 26:32 The psychology of flying into near-certain death 27:52 Results of the first wave 28:26 Cliffhanger: the second wave still to come