The Whale Has Wings Vol 2 - Taranto to Singapore Read Free Page B

armoured deck and actually made a hole as it exited the ship!). The other two worked as advertised; although they didn't carry the explosive content of the smaller GP bombs, they sent thick, heavy splinters of their casing in all directions, penetrating bulkheads, and managing to wreck the forward engine rooms. They also caused flooding as the splinters tore their way out through the side of the ship.
    While the attack was satisfyingly successful, it did unfortunately alert the defences to what was going on. The next six planes met a hail of AA fire, one of them being hit and diving straight down into the harbour, where its bomb exploded in a huge plume of water. Of the remaining five planes, only one got a hit, the others being somewhat distracted by the AA fire (although two bombs fell close enough to cause underwater damage). The hit, although only by a 1,000lb bomb, actually penetrated the relatively thin armour deck before it exploded, causing severe damage and starting a large fire amidships. The ship was left burning as the planes made their escape at low level.
    The final group of nine divebombers were targeting the Duilio. They had seen her hit by at least one torpedo, which was unexpected, but although the ship was listing, she was still above the water. The first flight was again carrying the 1,600AP bomb, and one of these hit - it was this hit that actually doomed the ship. The bomb exploded just as it entered the remaining operational boiler room, where it enthusiastically sprayed every piece of working machinery in range with jagged metal splinters - at which point the working machinery turned into non-working machinery. This caused a total loss of power as the electrical breakers opened automatically, which did nothing to help the crews trying to contain the torpedo damage. The final six planes managed two hits; one plane was lost as it never pulled out of its dive, the others managed two hits on the helpless battleship. One of these exploded above the armour (causing severe damage and fires in the superstructure), the second just under the armour, causing considerable damage, and also ruining the efforts of the crew to handle the increasing flooding. As a result, the list caused by the earlier torpedo damage kept increasing; the crew had no option but to abandon ship before she turned over into the mud of the harbour bottom.
    Last to attack were the remaining group of six torpedo bombers. While all the attention was on the battleships, they had been sneaking around to make an attack on the heavy cruiser Fiume in the outer harbour. As the attention was all on the battleships, they managed to start their runs before they were detected. The ships AA was immediately directed against them and one of the planes did not survive to get into range. The other five managed good launches, although one torpedo was dropped poorly and hit the harbour bottom, two of the remaining four hit the ship - one near her B turret, the other near her stern, wrecking both her propeller shafts. The ship immediately started to take on water and list, but at that time was not in immediate danger of sinking.
     
    Taranto, 2400 - second strike
    While the first strike had been finishing its efforts in the outer harbour, the group of 16 Wellingtons from Malta had arrived. Finding Taranto had proved easy, the now splendidly-burning oil tanks made it visible from a long way off. As they closed, the sight of all the massed AA fire from the port and from the ships in harbour, as well as the blazing oil tanks, was quite impressive. 'Guy Fawkes night come two weeks early' as one of the crew put it. Their job was not to add to the chaos in the outer harbour. Instead, using the convenience of the searchlight positions to make sure they were on target, they dropped mines around the harbour entrances. Sixteen Wellingtons carry a considerable quantity of mines, and the task was made easier by them being completely ignored. While it had been realised that