The opening balance sheet pairs damage to Italian ships and shore facilities with the extraordinary ammunition expenditure needed to meet the Swordfish raid. Italian guns fired 12,163 rounds of several calibres against only twenty attackers, or about 608 rounds per aircraft. Two Swordfish were lost, although it remains uncertain whether one was shot down or suffered another problem. The figures presented give forty Italian deaths aboard Littorio, Conte di Cavour, and Caio Duilio. The comparison shows how much defensive fire a small carrier strike drew from a heavily defended fleet base.
Notable Point · 0:18-2:01
The cost of stopping twenty Swordfish
Taranto's anti-aircraft defence expended huge quantities of ammunition against a twenty-aircraft strike, yet only two attackers were lost.