Hello, and thank you for listening to The History of World War II podcast.

Episode 410, 4 torpedoes can make all the difference.

Last time, August 12, 1942, it was coming to a close.

Admiral Cypher to force Z was heading back to Gibraltar, leaving behind

to force X and the merchant men of pedestal.

Force X was on its own now, but force Z had its own worries as well,

having lost several ships and almost losing the carrier indomitable.

The wounded carriers Captain Tom Trauberidge was fat, but fearless,

and he was a direct descendant of Horatio Nelson's Captain Trauberidge,

and it's a good thing he was fearless.

During the attack that saw his carrier smashed,

the radar had picked up close to 170 enemy planes, all kinds approaching in 11 formations,

at heights that varied from 25,000 feet to 10,000 feet.

But as we have seen, it was the dive bombers that delivered the most damning blows.

And the more that Trauberidge had thought about it, he had agreed with one of the pilots,

who said, we had been taken in by the oldest trick in the book.

A major force draws off the defender's down sun,

whilst a hitting force drives out of the sun during the diversion.

An assessment that was correct, and now the indomitable was limping back to the rock.

But the next day, we'd see the other carrier, Victorius,

serve up a bit of revenge, though served in a rather strange way.

Remember as the carrier had entered the Mediterranean,

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