ABSTRACT
Taranto (11 November 1940) [See map 37 on page 1347] During the first year of World War II, naval aircraft achieved rather questionable results, leaving doubt in some military minds as to their ability to hit and sink enemy vessels. One of the few opportunities for naval aviation to prove itself came during the Norway (q.v.) campaign, when dive bombers based on the Orkney Islands managed to sink the Ger man light cruiser Konigsberg in Bergen harbor. In those early years, the Royal Navy’s (RN) best at tack aircraft was the ten-year-old Fairey Swordfish, a slow and somewhat matronly torpedo-carrying biplane. Despite its age, it was an efficient, reliable, and sturdy weapon. Its characteristics were best suited for night operations. It was these aircraft that would prove finally in an actual combat op erations the power of attack from the air.
