Swordfish: The Story Of The Taranto Raid (Cassell Military Paperbacks) [Paperback]

David W. Wragg (Author)

Book Description

Series: Cassell Military Paperbacks | Publication Date: January 19, 2005

In November 1940 Britain was isolated in its stand against Nazi Germany and its ally, Italy. The country could not afford to lose control of the Mediterranean, but the Royal Navy was already overstretched by the U-boat war and the threat of invasion. Italy's fleet of modern battleships presented a grave threat to our communications with Egypt and the Suez Canal. On the night of 11 November 1940, 42 members of the Fleet Air Arm took off in 21 obsolete 'Swordfish' biplanes, launched from HMS Illustrious. Their target: the Italian fleet anchorage at Taranto. Pressing home their attack in the face of intense anti-aircraft fire and searchlights, they torpedoed and sank three battleships. Incredibly, all but two of the biplanes survived. The Italian fleet was crippled and the world took note that Britain was far from defeated. No-one was more impressed than the Japanese, who noted how a fleet in harbour could be demolished by air attack. In this new account of the Royal Navy's most daring operation of the Second World War, David Wragg draws on British and Italian records as well as interviews with the aircrew, to tell the full story of a night that changed the course of the war.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

A former journalist, David Wragg has contributed to THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, THE SPECTATOR, THE SCOTSMAN and the Glasgow SUNDAY HERALD. He comes from a naval family and has had a lifelong interest in naval aviation, inspired at least in part by finding an old aircraft dump at RNAS Hal Far in Malta during the late 1950s.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Cassell; 2 edition (January 19, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 030436682X
• ISBN-13: 978-0304366828
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,426,621 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The "Stringbag" Saves the Day, April 28, 2005

By 

Jeffrey T. Munson (Dixon, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Swordfish: The Story of the Taranto Raid (Hardcover)

On a dark and cold night in November of 1940, twenty one obsolete British torpedo bombers ("Swordfish") took off from the aircraft carrier Illustrious in the Mediterranean Sea. Their target was the Italian naval base at Taranto. Lying at anchor were six battleships, along with several cruisers and destroyers. This group made up the majority of the Italian Navy.

Relying on the navigational skills of the pilots, the British aircraft swarmed over the harbor, dropping flares to illuminate the ships and dropping torpedoes and bombs while facing murderous anti-aircraft fire from the Italians. For the loss of only two aircraft, the British managed to sink three battleships, three cruisers, and a destroyer. This successful raid greatly altered the balance of power in the Mediterranean and forced the Italians to move the rest of their fleet to safer harbors in northern Italy.

I was a little disappointed with this book. The title is somewhat misleading, for the actual attack on Taranto is only covered in two chapters. Much of the remainder of the book deals with the development of the British carriers in the pre-war years. Much time is also spent on the entire battle of the Mediterranean; something that maybe should have been left to a larger book. The chapters that actually deal with the attack itself are very good, and the attack is described in great detail. Being a Pearl Harbor buff, I also enjoyed the chapter that compares the Taranto raid to the attack on Pearl Harbor.

I feel that this could have been a much better book if the author would have devoted more space to the actual Taranto raid. One to two chapters just doesn't due the attack justice. I did enjoy learning about the battles in the Mediterranean. However, I read this book hoping to learn about the Taranto raid, and after finishing it, I didn't learn much more than I already knew before reading the book. If you're interested in learning about the whole battle for the Mediterranean Sea, then this book does a fairly good job of describing it, but it lacks quite a bit in the description of the attack on Taranto.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Precursor to Pearl, May 30, 2004

By 

Rick Kaneen "PrPro" (Tucson, Az USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Swordfish: The Story of the Taranto Raid (Hardcover)

Often touted as the attack that proved to the Japanese that aerial torpedoes would work in a shallow harbor, the attack on Taranto is usually relagated to a few paragraphs in books about the more infamous Dec. 7, 1941 attack. Wragg tells us the rest of the story with a clear and interesting, if somewhat pedestrian, recount of this remarkable surprise attack on the Italian battleship fleet in 1940. There are a lot of characters in this story, so many that it can become a bit confusing for the reader. But perhaps the most interesting character and the one developed best by the author is the Fairey Swordfish, the slow biplane that these stunningly brave British airmen flew into the maelstrom of Taranto harbor to all but put an end to the Italian fleet. A little known story, well told. Recommended!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars too much..., July 29, 2008

By 

Lennart Edzer Nooij (The Hague, the Netherlands) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Swordfish: The Story Of The Taranto Raid (Cassell Military Paperbacks) (Paperback)

Very interesting account of the Taranto raid, a forgotten yet important event in WW II. Despite the fact that the books reads easily, it shoudl have been half as long. The buildup to the raid is indispensible, but a bit overdone in detail. It could have been slightly less rich in detail. But what is really overdone is the aftermath. This takes half of the book, in which the general course of events in the Mediterranean is described, as well as later engagements in which Swordfishes were involved, and a comparision with Pearl Harbour is made. To top it of, a general analysis of carrier development. I was a bit suprised to see the F4 Panthom appear in the last chapter of a book dealing with the Raid on Taranto. The writer should have made some basic choices here. Nevertheless, even though the story runs wild, it still makes easy and entertaining reading. And the charm of a story about biplanes taking on a much more modern fleet is too strong not to recommended this book.