interesting read about skip bombing in the pacific
http://www.kensmen.com/combatlessons.html
there is even a book (biographical)on skip bombing with a B17 in the Pacific available on Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0275...33#reader-link
However, according to different sources, skipbombing was not only performed by the Americans in the Pacific, but also by British Coastal Command (learnt from the Americans) but also by Italians in Stukas?
Ju 87 in Italy
One of the weaknesses of the Italian Regia Aeronautica was its lack of dive bombers. The Italian attempts to develop such an aircraft had ended in a complete and ridiculous failure: The SM85 was abandoned after the type flew a single mission.
Yet it was clear that dive bombers were a very effective weapon against British ships in the Mediterranean. As was proven by the Germans when sent Stukageschwader I and II to the help the Italians. The Stukas badly damaged the carrier Illustrious, sank the cruiser Southampton, damaged several other ships, and nearly cut off the supply line to the besieged Tobruk.
So by 1941 the Italians received 46 B-1s, 50 B-2s, 59 R-2s. In 1943 they received an additional 46 aircraft, D-2s and D-3s. The Italians gave the aircraft the nickname Picchiatelli, which means "Striker". Although the Italians were trained initially to use the same tactics as the Germans, who did dive vertically on their targets in small groups, they soon developed their own methods. Rather oddly, the Italians also used the Ju 87 for the method which later became known as skip bombing -- horizontal attacks at very low level, dropping their bombs in such way that they would bounce of the water and hit the attacked ship on the waterline. The advantage of this method of attacking was that the target was hit on the waterline, and a dive directly into the defensive fire was avoided.
The last sentence seems a bit weird to me, as in the Pacific anyway it seems the survival rate was higher(?) with dive bombers dinving from above than in torpattack (coming in at sea level)?