Download or read book Taranto 1940 written by Angus Konstam and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2015-11-20 with total page 100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Royal Navy's attack on Taranto in 1940 heralded a new age of warfare. It was the decisive moment in a struggle for dominance of the Mediterranean that had gone on for months, as the British and Italian navies both looked to secure maritime supply routes for their colonies. With the enormous demands of a global war beginning to tell, the British capital ships were simply too thinly spread for a large fleet action against Taranto, where the bulk of the Italian fleet lay menacingly. How was the Royal Navy to eliminate the threat of the Regia Marina? This is the story of one of World War II's most devastating raids, recounting how a handful of obsolete Fairey Swordfish biplanes swooped in and destroyed an Italian battleship and badly damaged two more. With expert analysis, detailed colour illustrations and a gripping narrative, this book explains the origins of the attack, its planning and execution, and what happened in the aftermath.

Download or read book Attack on Taranto written by Thomas P. Lowry and published by Stackpole Books. This book was released on 2017-09-15 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On November 11, 1940, 21 slow, canvas-covered British warplanes, launched from the carrier Illustrious, attacked the harbor at the Italian port of Taranto and put most of the Italian navy out of commission. This all-but-forgotten operation, the authors argue, deserves historical recognition as an inspirational precedent for the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor 13 months later. Taranto demonstrated that battleships in a shallow, heavily defended harbor could be sunk by a handful of torpedo-bombers. That lesson Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto, commander-in-chief of the Japanese fleet, learned well-while the American military virtually ignored it. “By this single stroke the balance of naval power in the Mediterranean was decisively altered.” –Winston S. Churchill

Download or read book Taranto written by David Hobbs and published by Seaforth Publishing. This book was released on 2020-11-30 with total page 426 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “If you only read one book on the development of the Fleet Air Arm and Naval air warfare in the Mediterranean during World War 2 then this should be it.” —Military Historical Society After the Italian declaration of war in June 1940, the Royal Navy found itself facing a larger and better-equipped Italian surface fleet, large Italian and German air forces equipped with modern aircraft and both Italian and German submarines. Its own aircraft were a critical element of an unprecedented fight on, over and under the sea surface. The best-known action was the crippling of the Italian fleet at Taranto, which demonstrated how aircraft carriers and their aircraft had replaced the dominance of battleships, but every subsequent operation is covered from the perspective of naval aviation. Some of these, like Matapan or the defense of the “Pedestal” convoy to Malta, are famous but others in support of land campaigns and in the Aegean after the Italian surrender are less well recorded. In all these, the ingenuity and innovation of the Fleet Air Arm shines through—Taranto pointed the way to what the Japanese would achieve at Pearl Harbor, while air cover for the Salerno landings demonstrated the effectiveness of carrier-borne fighters in amphibious operations, a tactic adopted by the US Navy. The author’s years of archival research together with his experience as a carrier pilot allow him to describe and analyze the operations of naval aircraft in the Mediterranean with unprecedented authority. This provides the book with novel insights into many familiar facets of the Mediterranean war while for the first time doing full justice to the Fleet Air Arm’s lesser known achievements. “A full and fascinating story.” —Clash of Steel

Download or read book Taranto 1940 written by A. J. Smithers and published by US Naval Institute Press. This book was released on 1995 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Taranto written by Christopher O'Connor and published by Dog Ear Publishing. This book was released on 2010-09 with total page 118 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More than a year before the attack on Pearl Harbor, aircraft of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm executed a surprise attack on ships of the Italian Fleet anchored in the harbor of Taranto. The raid on Taranto anticipated the attack on Pearl Harbor, and historians have seen it as a precursor to the larger and more devastating strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy. The Taranto raid takes on added significance with the little-known fact that an officer in the US Navy was aboard the British aircraft carrier, and reported extensively on the attack to the Office of Naval Intelligence in Washington. For the first time, this book tells the entire story of Taranto and its relevance to Pearl Harbor. The book describes the attack in detail, and clears up mistakes and misconceptions that appeared in previous publications. The damage was done by 21 planes flown off the deck of HMS Illustrious, without any participation of the Royal Air Force. Illustrious took to sea the radar and aircraft control procedures that helped win the Battle of Britain. From British sources, the book describes the techniques used to allow successful use of aerial torpedoes in the shallow waters of Taranto harbor. Christopher O'Connor earned a BA from Union College and an MBA from Northwestern University. For fifteen years he worked as a Hospital Administrator. In 1993 he began a new career as a full-time father to five children. His wife, Susan, is a Dentist in private practice since 1987. The development of this book began with a footnote in Prange's At Dawn We Slept. This is his first book, but he has previously published articles in hospital management journals and Op-Ed pieces in newspapers. The book is based on original research in the National Archives in Washington, DC. Born in Springfield, MA, Mr. O'Connor now lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Southwest Virginia.

Download or read book Mediterranean Naval Battles That Changed the World written by Quentin Russell and published by Pen and Sword Maritime. This book was released on 2021-03-03 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This epic naval history examines seven pivotal Mediterranean conflicts, from the Battle of Salamis in the fifth century BC to the Siege of Malta during WWII. This book tells the story of the Mediterranean as a theater of war at sea. Historian Quentin Russell covers seven major battles or campaigns, each of which changed the balance of power and shape the course of history. Chronicling each battle in vivid detail, Russell also provides essential background, covering the history of naval power in the Mediterranean and the effect of the development of naval architecture and design on the outcomes. Readers will learn that the Battle of Lepanto in 1571 was the last major battle fought between galleys; the Battle of Navarino in 1827 was the last to be fought entirely by sailing ships; and the Battle of Cape Matapan in 1941—where a young Duke of Edinburgh saw action—was the first operation to exploit the breaking of the Italian naval Enigma codes. The battles included are: Salamis (480 BC), Actium (31 BC), Lepanto (1571), the Nile (aka Aboukir Bay, 1798), Navarino (1827), Cape Matapan (1941), and the Siege of Malta (1940-42).

Download or read book Italian Battleships written by Erminio Bagnasco and published by Seaforth Publishing. This book was released on 2021-06-30 with total page 658 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With the publication of their previous book on the battleships of the Littorio class, the authors set new standards for the detailed coverage and sophisticated analysis of Italian warship design. Inspired by its success, both critically and commercially, the authors were inspired to follow up with a similar study of the earlier Italian battleships that were built in the First World War but survived to fight in the Second. Given the level of new research required, this has taken a decade to achieve but the result is a similarly comprehensive coverage. Originally comprising five ships in two related classes, they entered service at the beginning of the Great War. As designed, they were powerful examples of the second generation of dreadnoughts, with a combination of twin and triple turrets producing a unique main armament of thirteen 12-inch guns. One ship, Leonardo da Vinci, was sunk by an internal explosion at Taranto in 1916, and although the hull was raised post-war, the plan to rebuild the ship was abandoned as it was not deemed cost-effective. However, the remaining four ships were to undergo one of the most radical reconstructions of any battleship class during the 1930s, emerging with an entirely new profile, more powerful machinery and all the characteristics of a modern fast battleship. In this form they became an important element in the Italian fleet that opposed the British after 1940\. This book covers all the technical details of the ships, both as built and as rebuilt, but also provides an extended history of their active service, including battle plans and track charts. Thoroughly illustrated with photographs, ship and armament plans, detail drawings and colour camouflage schemes, the book is a fitting companion to The Littorio Class.

Download or read book Taranto 1940 written by A J Smithers and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 1995-11-01 with total page 171 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the long history of the British Isles few years can stand in comparison with 1940 in terms of unrivalled gloom. The fiasco in Norway, the evacuation of the BEF from Dunkirk, the fall of France and the entry of Italy into the war were hardly offset by the success of the Royal Air Force in the Battle of Britain and the failure of the Italian troops in their attempted invasion of Egypt. Near the end of the year, however, there occurred an event which is remarkable not only for its dramatic effect on the course of the war but for the fact that it has virtually disappeared from public memory. This was the sinking of the better part of the Italian Fleet in Taranto harbour which, at one stroke, gave the Royal Navy control of the Eastern Mediterranean, somewhat ironically referred to by the Italians as Mare Nostrum. Perhaps even more remarkable, as A.J. Smithers describes in this book, enlivened as always and as critics have frequently remarked, by his mordant wit and extraordinary breadth of knowledge, was the means by which this feat was achieved In November, 1940, the areal torpedo was in its infancy, while its carrier, the Swordfish, known as the 'Stringbag', looked more like something left over from the previous war. But, flying at night and against all the odds, the pilots and observed achieved their objective and with one mighty stroke totally altered the balance of maritime power in the Mediterranean, at last for the foreseeable future.

Download or read book Swordfish written by David Wragg and published by Phoenix. This book was released on 2005-01 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The daring British air raid that inspired the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. 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.

Download or read book The Attack on Taranto written by B. B. Schofield and published by US Naval Institute Press. This book was released on 1973 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Italian Battleships of World War II written by Mark Stille and published by Osprey Publishing. This book was released on 2011-08-23 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Often overlooked as a naval power of WWII, Italy's Regia Marina was, upon the declaration of war against France, the fourth largest navy in the world. Despite its numbers, the Italian fleet was made up of largely obsolete vessels, none being equipped with radar, and had a reputation for having inadequately-trained crews. Added to these drawbacks, the Italian commanders did not enjoy the discretion of command at sea that their counterparts in the service of other nations did, being directed closely by the Supermarina (Italian Naval Headquarters). Despite these obstacles, and the heavy losses inflicted upon the fleet by the Royal Navy while in harbour at Taranto, the battleships of the Italian Navy enjoyed a good reputation for being well-designed, and served with courage and determination at Punto Stilo/Calabria, Sirte, Cape Spartivento, and Cape Matapan. Mark Stille details, with the aid of many stunning photographs, including several from the Italian Navy's own archives, the battleships of one of the forgotten navies of WWII.

Download or read book Taranto written by and published by . This book was released on 2020-11-30 with total page 456 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Library of Congress Subject Headings written by Library of Congress and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 2002 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Library of Congress Subject Headings written by Library of Congress. Cataloging Policy and Support Office and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 1732 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Mussolini s Navy written by Maurizio Brescia and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2012-09-30 with total page 561 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A simply magnificent book describing the Italian Navy of the Second World War, profiling all classes of vessels, from battleships . . . [to] submarines.” —Pegasus Archive This book is a complete guide to the Regia Marina, the navy with which Italy fought the Second World War. Starting with the historical background, it describes how the navy developed, how it was organized, the facilities that supported it, and the operations it conducted both before and after the armistice in 1943. It also details all its ships, with full technical particulars, plans and photos. Furthermore, there are chapters on special topics like camouflage; uniforms, decorations and insignia; and a “who’s who” of important naval personalities; and the reference value of the book is enhanced by a comprehensive bibliography and guide to sources. The illustration is a noteworthy feature of the book as the author’s collection of naval photographs is one of the best in Italy. He is also a fine draughtsman, and his ship plans and color illustrations are both detailed and accurate, adding a particular appeal for modelmakers. Of all the main combatant navies of this era, the Italian is probably the most poorly represented in English publications, so this comprehensive handbook will be especially welcomed by the naval community. “An overview of the wartime Italian Navy, including its bases and organization, ships and aircraft . . . an enjoyable book.” —Warships International Fleet Review “A major achievement and a milestone in the renaissance of Italian Naval history . . . [the] book is a gem and is thoroughly recommended.” —The Navy Vol 75

Download or read book War in a Stringbag written by Charles Lamb and published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson. This book was released on 2001 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A classic autobiography by the best known Second World War Fleet Air Arm pilot. A story of real life adventure, action and heroism. Commander Charles Lamb fought an exceptional war flying the slow and obsolete Fairey Swordfish for the Fleet Air Arm. It was an antiquated machine, but it could outmanoeuvre almost any other aircraft, and in Charles Lamb's hands, the 'Stringbag' - as the torpedo bomber was affectionately known - was a deadly weapon. Charles Lamb fought in the thick of the action. This is his story, from the first day of war as a Lieutenant on board Courageous, to the accident aboard Implacable in action against the Japanese in June 1945 which ended his war. A rare account of determination, action and spirit by a man who was an inspiration to those around him.

Download or read book Very Special Ships written by Arthur Nicholson and published by Seaforth Publishing. This book was released on 2015-10-30 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Very Special Ships is the first full-length book about the six Abdiel-class fast minelayers, the fastest and most versatile ships to serve in the Royal Navy in the Second World War. They operated not only as offensive minelayers – dashing into enemy waters under cover of darkness – but in many other roles, most famously as blockade runners to Malta. In lieu of mines, they transported items as diverse as ammunition, condensed milk, gold, and VIPs. Distinguished by their three funnels, the Abdiels were attractive, well-designed ships, and they were also unique – no other navy had such ships, and so they were sought-after commands and blessed with fine captains. To give the fullest picture of this important class of ships, the book details the origins and history of mines, minelayers, and minelaying; covers the origins and design of the class; describes the construction of each of the six ships, and the modified design of the last two; tells in detail of the operational careers of the ships in the second World War, when they played vital roles in the battle of Crete and the siege of Malta, plied the hazardous route to Tobruk, and laid mines off the Italian coast. The post-war careers of the surviving ships is also documented. Written to appeal to naval enthusiasts, students of World War II and modelmakers, the author tells the story of these ships through first-hand accounts, official sources, and specially- commissioned drawings and photographs.