Fairey Swordfish

[Igo kyu]

Originally Posted by ElAurens

I would say the Kate, SM 79, and TBF/TBM were far better. Actually the Devastator was better.

The Swordfish just happened to be all the Brits had for that role, so it got used in a couple of famous ops.

It was the best Britain had for the role, in the early war, there were others. I suspect one factor may have been it's low speed, which meant that a torpedo entered the water at about the speed it was going to run at. Apparently they were still in production in 1943.

If anyone has figures for torpedoes launched against tonnage sunk, for any torpedo bombers, I'd be interested to hear them.