Chapter 16 The Precision-Information Revolution in Military Affairs and The Limits of Technology

Peter R. Mansoor

On September 9, 1943, the Italian battleship Roma was making its way south towards and the safety of Allied air cover. While traversing the Strait of Bonifacio between Sardinia and Corsica, the ship and its escorts came un- der attack from a specially trained German air squadron equipped with a new weapon: the . Six aircraft, each carrying two bombs, flew over the Italian flotilla at an altitude of 5,500 meters. Shortly after 3:30 pm, the Germans attacked. The Roma and its escorts fired back and took evasive action, but to no avail. German bombardiers guided bombs onto the Roma and Italia, causing them to lose speed and drop out of formation. Shortly before 4 pm another Fritz X penetrated the Roma and detonated in- side the forward engine room. The forward magazine exploded, causing cata- strophic damage to the ship. In a matter of minutes the Roma capsized and sank, taking 1,253 of her crew with her to a watery grave.1 Two days later on the morning of September 11, 1943, the Brooklyn-class light uss Savannah was positioned in the Bay of Salerno, supporting U.S. ground troops ashore with naval gunfire. The ship was being tracked from 5,700 meters overhead by a Dornier Do 217 aircraft, which released a Fritz X bomb to- wards it. The bombardier guided the bomb onto the roof of the Savannah’s No. 3 . The Fritz X passed through three decks before exploding in the lower ammunition-handling room, causing secondary explosions that nearly doomed the ship. Heroic damage control efforts by Savannah’s crew saved the vessel, which was forced to sail to Malta for repairs.2

1 Brendan McNally, “The Sinking of the Battleship Roma and the Dawn of the Age of Precision Guided Munitions,” Defense Media Network, June 1, 2014, http://www.defensemedianetwork .com/stories/the-sinking-of-the-battleship-roma-and-the-dawn-of-the-age-of-precision- guided-munitions/. 2 “uss Savannah (CL-42), 1938–1960 – Damaged by German Bomb, 11 September 1943,” Naval Historical Center, https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/OnlineLibrary/photos/sh-usn/usnsh- s/cl42-l.htm; “uss Savannah (CL-42),” Naval Warfare, March 10, 2009, http://navalwarfare .blogspot.com/2009/03/uss-savannah-cl-42.html.

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334 Mansoor

Illustration 16.1 German “Fritz-X” Guided Bomb in the Air Power Gallery at the National Mu- seum of the U.S. Air Force. (By U.S. Air Force [Public domain], via Wikime- dia Commons - https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/ Bomba_Fritz_X_en_el_Museo_de_la_Fuerza_Aerea_de_USA.jpg).

For several days German bombardiers showered the Allied fleet at Salerno with guided bombs, hitting the cruiser uss , the hms Uganda, the battleship hms Warspite, and several merchant ships. All of the ships were temporarily put out of action and had to retire for repairs. The Fritz-X was a gravity bomb that could have its course adjusted while in flight (See Illustration 16.1). It consisted of an 11-foot-long casing containing 320 kilograms of explosive. A gyroscope ensured the boxlike tail section remained pointed upwards so that it could receive signals from the controlling aircraft overhead. Adjustments were made in flight by a bombardier who lined up a flare in the bomb’s tail with the target aim point using a joystick connected to a radio controller. The joystick controlled oscillating spoilers in the tail section that provided pitch and yaw control. Provided the bomb was initially released to land within 500 meters of its target, a skilled operator could hit within 30 meters of the aim point 90 percent of the time.3 The German onslaught sent the Allies searching for countermeasures. They were fairly certain the bombs were radio-controlled, but did not know the fre- quency spectrum used. The controlling aircraft, however, had to fly straight

3 McNally, “The Sinking of the Battleship Roma;” “Guided German air to ground weapons in WW2,” http://www.1jma.dk/articles/1jmaluftwaffegroundweapons.htm.