On 3rd July 1940 was one of the main weapons employed by the British to attack the French fleet at Mers-el-Kébir, close to Oran, in Algeria to prevent the ships from falling into German hands. Twelve Swordfish from 810 and 820 NAS were launched from the HMS Ark Royal (91) and conducted three sorties against the anchored fleet. In the ensuing torpedo attack the Battleship Dunkerque was crippled and many other ships were severely damaged, proving that capital ships could be seriously damaged while anchored in harbour. It was also the first time that the Royal Navy won a battle without using gunfire.
Shortly after Mers-el-Kébir, a detachment of three Swordfish was sent to support British troops in the Western Desert, responding this way, to a request for torpedo aircraft to destroy hostile naval units operating off the Libyan coast. On 22nd August the three Swordfish destroyed two u-boats, one destroyer and a supply ship present in the Gulf of Bomba, Libya, using just three torpedoes.
On 11th November, Swordfish flying from HMS Illustrious (87) achieved great success at the Raid in Taranto. The main force of the Italian Navy was based at the Italian port of Taranto, located at the South-Eastern tip of the Italian peninsula and, after the success of Mers-el-Kébir, the British admiralty sought another similar victory. The Royal Navy had conducted extensive preparations, with some plans dating back to even 1938, when the war between European powers seemed already unavoidable. Regular reconnaissance aerial missions were flown to gather intelligence about the position of capital ships and Swordfish' crews were trained to conduct nightly operations, because the night raid was seen as the only possible way of overcoming the defences of the well-protected harbour.
The raid on Taranto was originally scheduled for 21st October, however it was delayed to 11th November to allow key reinforcements to arrive and other tasks to be completed. The aerial attack started with a volley of flares dropped by Swordfish aircraft to illuminate the area where the raid would took place, after the which, a formation of Swordfish commenced bombing and torpedo runs. Given the presence of barrage ballons and torpedo nets the number of suitable torpedo-dropping positions was cut so many of the Swordfish were armed with bombs -instead of torpedoes- and conducted a synchronised attack upon the cruisers and destroyers instead. The just three torpedo-armed Swordfish inflicted serious damage on three of the Battleships (Conte di Cavour, Caio Duilio and Littorio) and two cruisers, two destroyers and other vessels were either sunk or damaged. The high manoeuvrability of the Swordfish helped the aircraft to evade the intense anti-aircraft fire and hit the Italian ships. This Battle showed that a single force of torpedo bombers could immobilise an entire fleet and were an effective mean of altering the balance of power. In fact, the Japanese air attaché to Berlin, Takeshi Naito, visited Taranto at the aftermath of the battle in order to, more than one year later, brief the Bombing of Pearl Harbor.
Later, on 28th March 1941 two Swordfish based on Crete contributed to the disabling of the Italian Heavy Cruiser Pola during the Battle of Cape Matapan. In May, six Swordfish based at Shaibah, near Basra, Iraq, took par in suppressing the revolt in the region widely known as the Anglo-Iraqi War as the aircraft conducted bombing missions on Iraqi barracks, fuel depots and bridges.
The Swordfish also flew a high number of anti-shipping missions in the Mediterranean, many of them from Malta. Guided by the aerial reconnaissance of other RAF units, Swordfish would time their attacks to arrive at enemy convoys in the dark to elude German fighters, which were restricted to daytime operations. While there were never more than 27 Swordfish stationed at the island at a time, the Swordfish managed to sink an average of 50.000 tons of enemy shipping per month during a nine-month period. During one record month, 98.000 tons were reported to have been sunk to the island's Swordfish strike force. The recorded lost of Swordfish were low, specially related to the high sortie rate of the aircraft and in light of the fact that many aircraft lacked many blind-flying equipment, making night-flying even more dangerous.
Close to the end of the war, there were still nine front-line squadrons that were equipped with the Swordfish. Overall they counted for 14 u-boats destroyed. The Swordfish was intended to be replaced by the Fairey Albacore, but it outlived its intended successor and was replaced by the Fairey Barracuda. Operational sorties of the Swordfish continued in January 1945 being the last active missions believed to be anti-shipping raids conducted off the Norwegian coast by 835 and 813 NAS, where Swordfish' manoeuvrability was essential. On 21st May 1945 the last operational squadron, 836 NAS, which had been tasked with providing resources for the MAC ships, was disbanded shortly after the end of the war in Europe.
In the summer of 1946 the last training squadron equipped with the type was disbanded, after which only some few aircraft were kept in service to perform sundry duties at few naval air stations.
Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairey_Swordfish
2. http://www.aviation-history.com/fairey/swordfish.html
3. https://www.navywings.org.uk/aircraft/twin-aircraft/swordfish/
4. Signal Squadron - Aircraft In action 175 - Fairey Swordfish in Action
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