Attack on Taranto

Attack on Taranto PDF Author: Thomas P. Lowry
Publisher: Stackpole Books
ISBN: 0811766780
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 174

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Book Description
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

Attack on Taranto

Attack on Taranto PDF Author: Thomas P. Lowry
Publisher: Stackpole Books
ISBN: 0811766780
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 174

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Book Description
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

Taranto

Taranto PDF Author: David Hobbs
Publisher: Seaforth Publishing
ISBN: 1526793849
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 426

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Book Description
“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

The Attack on Pearl Harbor

The Attack on Pearl Harbor PDF Author: Alan D. Zimm
Publisher: Casemate
ISBN: 1612000215
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 445

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Book Description
“Uses modern methods of operational analysis to determine exactly how the Japanese planned and executed the great raid . . . a worthy, useful analysis” (Naval History). The December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor has been portrayed by historians as a dazzling success. With most American historians concentrating on command errors and the story of participants’ experiences, the Japanese attack has never been subjected to a comprehensive critical analysis of the military side of the operation. This book presents a detailed evaluation of the attack on the operational and tactical level. It examines such questions as: Was the strategy underlying the attack sound? Were there flaws in planning or execution? How did Japanese military culture influence the planning? How risky was the attack? What did the Japanese expect to achieve, compared to what they did achieve? Were there Japanese blunders? What were their consequences? What might have been the results if the attack had not benefited from the mistakes of the American commanders? The book also addresses the body of folklore about the attack, assessing contentious issues such as the skill level of the Japanese aircrew; whether mini submarines torpedoed Oklahoma and Arizona, as has been recently claimed; whether the Japanese ever really considered launching a third-wave attack—and the consequences for the Naval Shipyard and the fuel storage tanks if it had been executed. In addition, the analysis has detected for the first time deceptions that a prominent Japanese participant in the attack placed into the historical record, most likely to conceal his blunders and enhance his reputation. The centerpiece of the book is an analysis using modern Operations Research methods and computer simulations, as well as combat models developed between 1922 and 1946 at the US Naval War College. The analysis sheds new light on the strategy and tactics employed by Yamamoto to open the Pacific War, and offers a dramatically different appraisal of the effectiveness of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Mediterranean Naval Battles That Changed the World

Mediterranean Naval Battles That Changed the World PDF Author: Quentin Russell
Publisher: Pen and Sword Maritime
ISBN: 1526716011
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 302

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Book Description
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).

Taranto

Taranto PDF Author: Christopher O'Connor
Publisher: Dog Ear Publishing
ISBN: 1608447219
Category : Taranto, Battle of, Taranto, Italy, 1940
Languages : en
Pages : 118

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Book Description
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.

At Dawn We Slept

At Dawn We Slept PDF Author: Gordon William Prange
Publisher: Penguin Group
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 920

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Book Description
At 7:53 a.m., December 7, 1941, America's national consciousness and confidence were rocked as the first wave of Japanese warplanes took aim at the U.S. Naval fleet stationed at Pearl Harbor. As intense and absorbing as a suspense novel, At Dawn We Slept is the unparalleled and exhaustive account of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. It is widely regarded as the definitive assessment of the events surrounding one of the most daring and brilliant naval operations of all time. Through extensive research and interviews with American and Japanese leaders, Gordon W. Prange has written a remarkable historical account of the assault that-sixty years later-America cannot forget.

The Battle for Rome

The Battle for Rome PDF Author: Robert Katz
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 9780743216425
Category : Rome (Italy)
Languages : en
Pages : 466

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Book Description
This landmark work draws on newly released documents and firsthand accounts to tell the dramatic story of Rome's dark days during the German occupation. 8-pages of photos. 2 maps.

The Attack on Pearl Harbor

The Attack on Pearl Harbor PDF Author: John C. Davenport
Publisher: Infobase Publishing
ISBN: 1438104332
Category : Pearl Harbor (Hawaii), Attack on, 1941
Languages : en
Pages : 128

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Book Description
Traces events leading up to and resulting from the December 7, 1941, Japanese attack on American battleships at Pearl Harbor, which brought the United States into World War II.

'The Most Dangerous Moment of the War'

'The Most Dangerous Moment of the War' PDF Author: John Clancy
Publisher: Casemate
ISBN: 1612003354
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 189

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Book Description
“A well-detailed account of the [World War II] raid, which badly stung the Royal Navy but which the Japanese failed to exploit to a strategic advantage” (Seapower). In early April 1942, a little-known episode of World War II took place. Said by Sir Winston Churchill to be “the most dangerous moment of the war,” the Japanese made their only major offensive westwards into the Indian Ocean. As historian Sir Arthur Bryant said, “A Japanese naval victory in April 1942 would have given Japan total control of the Indian Ocean, isolated the Middle East and brought down the Churchill government.” Having crippled the American fleet at Pearl Harbor, the Japanese turned their sights on the British Eastern Fleet based at Ceylon. Occupation of Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, would not only provide the Japanese a springboard into India but also control of the essential convoy routes to Europe and the Western Desert. And aside from the British Eastern Fleet, the Indian Ocean lay undefended. In April 1942, a Japanese fleet led by six aircraft carriers, four battleships, and thirty other ships sailed into the Bay of Bengal. In the ferocious battles that followed, the British lost a carrier, two heavy cruisers, and many other ships; however, the Japanese eventually turned back, never to sail against India again. John Clancy, whose father survived the sinking of HMS Cornwall during the battle, “masterfully combines the strategic overview, the tactical decision making and many personal experiences to bring this episode of the war to life” (WWII Today). “Absolutely enthralling.” —Books Monthly “Well researched . . . a balanced view of men acting under the stress of war during a critical time.” —WWII History

Naval Aviation in the Second World War

Naval Aviation in the Second World War PDF Author: Philip Kaplan
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1473829976
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 234

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Book Description
The first aircraft carriers made their appearance in the early years of World War I. These first flattops were improvised affairs built on hulls that had been laid down with other purposes in mind, and it was not until the 1920s that the first purpose-built carriers were launched, but no-one was as yet clear about the role of the carriers and they were largely unloved by the 'battleship admirals' who still believed that their great dreadnoughts were the ultimate capital ships.World War II changed all that, At Taranto, Pearl Harbour, and in the North Atlantic, the carrier, the ugly duckling of the world's navies, proved itself to be the dreadnought nemesis. As the tide of war turned, the fast attack carriers of the U.S. Navy spearheaded the counter-attack in the Pacific while the makeshift escort carriers helped to seal the fate of the German U-boats in the Atlantic. The carrier, and naval aviation, thus emerged into the post-war world as the primary symbol and instrument of seapower; it would play a crucial role in the strategic encirclement of the Soviet Union and enabled western airpower to be rapidly and effectively deployed in areas of conflict as remote as Korea, Vietnam, the Falklands and the Gulf.Kaplan describes the adventure of the young American, British, and Japanese naval aviators in the Second World War. It is an account of their experiences based on archives, diaries, published and unpublished memoirs, and personal interviews with veteran naval airmen of WWII, providing a vivid and often hair-raising picture of the dangers they encountered in combat and of everyday life aboard an aircraft carrier. It considers some of the key aspects of the WWII naval aviator's combat career, such as why it was that only a tiny minority of these pilots those in whom the desire for aerial combat overrode everything accounted for such a large proportion of the victories.In the major carrier actions of that conflict, from the Royal Navy's attack on Taranto which crippled the Italian fleet in 1940, to the Japanese carrier-launched surprise attack on U.S. Navy battleships and facilities at Pearl Harbour in 1941, to the carrier battle of Midway in 1942, and the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot of 1944, through the Japanese Kamikaze campaign against the U.S. Carriers in the final stages of the Pacific war, this book takes the reader back to one of the most exciting and significant times in modern history.