Indeed. It was a suicide mission to all intents and purposes. The Germans provided very thorough air cover for those ships, and the swordfish should never have been sent against them at all.

The Italians were rather unlucky at Taranto, and the British airmen were clearly very well trained and did their job superbly. It ended up causing no little grief to the Americans when the Japanese used it as their inspiration for the Pearl Harbour torpedo attack.

The Bismark was also unlucky...but then, so was the Hood!