NINE MASTER MASONS INVITED TO PENTANGLE CHAPTER FOR A TALK ON THE BATTLE OF TARANTO
On The 8th November, Pentangle Chapter No. 1174 held an open meeting for Companions and Brethren to hear a lecture on the battle of Tranto in 1940, presented by an ex RN officer and pilot.
The Chapter was opened and closed with a limited amount of business, while the nine young Master Masons joining us stayed in the bar.
The Temple was then cleared but the Companions stayed in their regalia while the Brethren were invited into the Temple to hear a short ten minute presentation on the Royal Arch, devised by the Provincial Membership Officer Dennis Fordham, before the main lecture. I am pleased to say that the presentation was a great success with one application for membership and a second Brother asking for an application form, so hopefully two new members.
The Chapter then moved on to the main presentation of the Battle of Taranto. A slide show and 40-minute presentation were given by EComp Richard Eastwood our MEZ on the battle.
For the first time in naval warfare the Admiralty chose to conduct a sea battle using only aircraft from its Imperial Carriers. Previously sea battles were decided by Battleships, but this battle was the Royal Navy’s decisive action to remove the threat of Italian Battleships. Twenty one Swordfish aircraft carrying torpedoes, bombs and flares launched from aircraft carriers on the night of 11th November 1940.
The original plan had been to strike Taranto on the night of 21 st October using thirty six Swordfish from HMS Illustrious and HMS Eagle, but several mishaps intervened, including a fire aboard Illustrious and the withdrawal of Eagle due to battle damage. The force of Swordfish torpedo bombers was therefore reduced to twenty one aircraft and the attack, named ‘Operation Judgement’, was postponed. The delay allowed improved reconnaissance which two days before the attack, confirmed that the entire Italian battleship strength (the brand new Littorio and Vio Veneto and four modernised battleships, Cesare, Duillio, Andrea, Doria and Cavour) were all moored in the harbour. Several cruisers and destroyers were also present. Operation Judgement was underway!
The aircraft took off in two waves and rumbled through the darkness towards their target, over two hours’ flying time away, at only 75 knots. One aircraft turned back, but twenty pressed on. Eleven of the aircraft were armed with torpedoes and the remainder carried flares and bombs.
They bombed and torpedoed the Italian fleet in Taranto Harbour sinking and disabling numerous ships in the face of immense anti-aircraft fire. The Italian fleet never recovered and what was left retreated to Naples and never troubled the British again. The Battle of Taranto was a turning point in the control of the Mediterranean in WWII. It moved the balance of sea power back in favour of the British and allowed relatively unhindered convoy movements between Gibraltar and Alexandria to resupply allies and troops in North Africa and the eventual retaking of Italy.
Later the Japanese, who were our allies in 1940, used the Taranto Raid as a blueprint for their attack on Pearl Harbour in December 1941, although they made the former look primitive in comparison.
Masterminded by the British, the Taranto raid relied on stealth and showed how the use of aircraft without the back up of a battle fleet could be decisive.
Chris Sanford
Scribe E, Pentangle Chapter 1174.