WARSPITE RECOVERS HER SWORDFISH
HMS Warspite picks up her reconnaissance plane at speed, a manoeuvre never tried out before, as the British fleet steam flat out to catch the Italian warships. The Swordfish, piloted by Petty Officer Ben Rice, had been aloft for nearly 5 hours, searching in vain for the Italian battleship Vittorio Veneto and her task force.
Low on fuel, with only 15 minutes flying time left and now unable to reach Suda Bay, PO Rice was recovered by the fast moving Warspite in a challenging operation that was faultlessly accomplished.

Talking to the Artist in 2002, the late Ben Rice recounted how he had landed ahead of the battleship, which was steaming up at 18 knots plus, on a flat sea. He explained: I had to keep the speed of the plane a little below that of the approaching Warspite, but when the battleship pulled alongside, the bow wave threw the Swordfish completely off course and it took all my skill to control the plane, until the strop from the crane had been attached - which was another scary moment for my observer, Lieutenant Commander Bolt, standing on the fuselage.

Although Warspite and her consorts succeeded in sinking a few enemy cruisers in the night action that followed at Matapan, the Italian battleships escaped the British guns.

This is a magnificent, HIGH QUALITY SIGNED PRINT from an illustration featured in the book Warspite - Warships of the Royal Navy by Iain Ballantyne (Pen & Sword Publishing). Printed with lightfast inks on Archival Art Paper (the largest size on Fine Art Watercolour Paper).