| Author: | Thomas P. Lowry, John Wellham | ISBN: | 9780811766784 |
| Publisher: | Stackpole Books | Publication: | September 15, 2017 |
| Imprint: | Stackpole Books | Language: | English |
| Author: | Thomas P. Lowry, John Wellham |
| ISBN: | 9780811766784 |
| Publisher: | Stackpole Books |
| Publication: | September 15, 2017 |
| Imprint: | Stackpole Books |
| Language: | English |
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
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
