Some of the bombs dropped at Taranto did explode, while the pattern of failures reflected how they were fused. The weapons were prepared chiefly for cruisers, where a delayed detonation low inside the hull could open damaging spaces to flooding. A thinner destroyer might allow the same bomb to pass through before the fuze acted. Land targets posed a different material and depth problem again. Hit counts alone do not explain air attack results because fuze delay must match the structure being struck.
Notable Point · 53:08-54:13
Why some Taranto bombs passed through their targets
Bombs fused to detonate deep inside cruisers could pass through thinner destroyers or behave poorly against land targets, making target construction part of weapon effectiveness.