The Battle of Taranto took place on the night of 11–12 November 1940 during the Second World War between British naval forces, under Admiral Andrew Cunningham, and Italian naval forces, under Admiral Inigo Campioni. The Royal Navy launched the first all-aircraft ship-to-ship naval attack in history, launching a small number of obsolescent biplane torpedo bombers from the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious (R87) in the Mediterranean Sea.