Don't Worry, This Isn't Going To Be A Treatise On Fish
Except maybe the tin variety. We'll get to that later.
No, today's Intro is inspired by a crack I made on Twitter about how an Ukrainian ultra-light aircraft was able to fly through Ruffian air defences to target, unscathed. For your information, here's one that got scathed. Art!
Yes, I inverted it
There's a bit of background to this strike; it concerned a static target that had been ranged to the inch, which had been carefully analysed in advance, and which was very probably aided by either decoys or diversions, which are all aspects of planning an operation that go back over 80 years. Art!
By Charles David Cobb. Probably my favourite aircraft painting.
This event took place on 11/11/1940, at Taranto, where most of the heavy units of the Regia Nautica, the Italian Navy, were harboured. The Regia N believed in a 'fleet in being' concept which meant always hovering, never actually mounting operations, rather to the disgust of the Royal Navy, who bloodthirstily longed for a ship-on-ship engagement. Art!
If the mountain won't come to Mohammed -
Just as a bomb-armed drone strike on an oil refinery is a novelty now, so too was the concept of attacking a fleet at harbour with torpedo bombers. The Regia N were not idiots; there were 190 anti-aircraft guns of up to 4" calibre with another similar number of machine guns, all positioned to defend the harbour. There were also hundreds of anti-aircraft weapons on the naval warships themselves. Not only that, there were torpedo nets in position to protect the battleships, and static balloons to deter low-level attacks.
However - that word again! - to every problem there is a solution. The wiser heads in the Royal N got together with their Fleet Air Arm compatriots and worked out a plan. The strike would utilise Swordfish aircraft, fitted with extra fuel tanks, flying off Royal N aircraft carriers. This would allow them to get dangerously close to the port of Taranto, all the more so because the port (like Italy generally) didn't possess radar that could have given advanced warning. Art!
In order to illuminate the targets, several Swordfish would be dropping flares along the shoreline, then proceed to bomb the inner harbour, fuel tanks and anything that looked expensive. This ensured the Italian defensive fire was diverted elsewhere when the real attack took place. Conrad had the impression that it was Albacores that had done the flare-dropping, except no, so my title puns about "Alba Cor!" went out of the window. In total, eleven torpedoes or 'tin fish' were launched from very low level as the Regia N expended 13,000 rounds of ammunition to try and down the aircraft from Perfidious Albion.
As you may realise, one of the methods to overcome the fixed defences, primarily the torpedo nets, was to make the Royal N tin-fish run a lot shallower than normal, meaning they went over the top of the nets instead of being stopped by them. What you might call an 'Ooops' moment.
Two of the 'Stringbags' were shot down, one pilot and air-gunner being killed, but the Regia N paid an appalling price for these, having the 'Duilio', 'Littorio' and 'Cavour' battleships all put out of action, the first two for 6 months. The 'Cavour' never went back into service. The very next day every Italian ship that could raise steam sortied out of Taranto, which had become very unsafe and could no longer be reliably defended. Reminds me of another more recent harbour ..... Art!
Fair does for the Italians, they buried the two dead British aircrew with full military honours, showing a level of respect that is rare now and rarer then.
Suddenly, warships in harbours around the world were now vulnerable to crippling attacks from aircraft, torpedoes and bombs that cost a fraction of the capital needed to build a battleship, and a fraction of the time.
That was 85 years ago. You can substitute 'Oil infrastructure', 'Ruffia' and 'drones' and be as up to date as you like.
Lost At Lost At Sea
You may be able to do better than Conrad here, although I doubt it. Yes, this is from that irritating video compilation that doesn't list where or when the incidents it films take place. Art!
Make what you can of that. I've tried Googling those number on the lower part of the hull, to no avail, and it's impossible to make out what that name is, bar that it may be in Roman lettering. Or maybe not. Art!
There are people talking unintelligibly, with loud wind overlaying what they're saying, and one of them might be saying 'Salaam', meaning 'Hello' or 'This vessel was bound for or from Dar Es Salaam'. Take your pick.
I've also Googled any number of variations of "ship sinks with: construction plant; excavators; dump trucks; X168; all of the above and none" and haven't come up with a single hit.
All that aside, there is a story here. Obviously - of course!- the transport sank, in relatively shallow water or there'd be nothing to see. Which implies that it may be close to shore, or grounded on a sandbank. Saltwater is pretty corrosive stuff, so if they don't salvage that plant soon, it won't be fit for purpose.
Conrad hopes you're all as baffled as he was.
"Tariff"
By now you ought to be aware that Conrad is interested in the source and origin of words, which all too often turn out to have a Latin or Greek root <spit hack>. This one, mind, is different, according to my "Collins Concise Dictionary".
"A tax levied by a government on imports or occasionally exports"
It comes from the Italian - dangerously close to Latin, I know - 'Tariffa', which in turn is derived from the Arabic 'Tar'ifa', meaning 'To Inform'.
So now we know. Art!
I will let you guess
Poor Beggars
Australia: the land where every species of animal and insect is trying to kill you, is normally known for being hot and dry. Not at present. Art!
"Wild Swans"
We are at 400 pages in so far, late 1966, and Chang is now describing the throes of the 'Cultural Revolution', which Conrad vaguely remembers as a thing at the time and later. Briefly put, it was Emperor Mao seeking to extend his power over the country, the Party, the people and everything. But, rather like The Mysterons, he had to destroy first, in order to recreate everything in his own image. Thus you had the cult of personality, the Red Guards and generally smashing things up. Art!
It was absolutely disastrous for China and her people, especially coming after Mao's stupid policies that created an artificial famine, which he got into a snit about, as other people had warned what would happen. See what happens when there's nothing to restrict dictators?
Finally -
The Pork and Olive Loaf turned out fine, apart from me not taking a picture of it, so I shall go and remedy that right now.
Laterz!
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