Torpedo bombers. The biplane Fairey Swordfish torpedo bomber, affectionately referred to as "Stringbag" by her aircrews, was introduced in 1936. It was an archaic-looking biplane with cloth-covered wings, open cockpit and fixed landing gear. It had been designed as a scout plane but emerged as the standard naval attack aircraft serving as both a dive-bomber and torpedo bomber. In the first airborne torpedo attack of the war, Swordfish damaged a German destroyer at Trondheim. Later, Swordfish famously crippled a French battleship during the Attack on Mers-el-Kébir, disabled three Italian battleships during the Battle of Taranto and chased the German battleship "Bismark" through gale-force storms across the Atlantic, ultimately landing the torpedo that doomed her. Swordfish dropped depth charges and laid mines as well as well. The Fairey Albacore was introduced in 1940 to replace the Swordfish, but the venerable Swordfish continued to serve in anti-submarine and bombardment spotting assignments throughout the war. In the final accounting, the Swordfish destroyed more tonnage of Axis shipping than any other Allied aircraft.