Taranto's shore batteries combined machine guns with heavy anti-aircraft guns, including four-inch weapons of First World War vintage. The older heavy guns had slow firing and tracking rates better suited to medium or heavy bombers than to a manoeuvrable single-engine aircraft. Intermediate weapons were concentrated aboard ships. At short range, even a relatively slow Swordfish crossed a gunner's field of view quickly and could remain below the mounting's safe depression. Night torpedo attack was the work for which the Swordfish had been designed, and an enemy fleet lying in harbour suited that mission particularly well.
Notable Point · 32:08-36:24
Why the defence struggled against low Swordfish
Shore defences were weighted toward machine guns and heavy flak, leaving a gap against slow but highly manoeuvrable low-level carrier aircraft.