Combat Ships

A look at how the role of battleships changed over the course of the First and Second World Wars. At the start of the 20th century, the battleship was the preeminent warship; yet during the Battle of Jutland, it failed to deliver the killer blow. In the waters of Scapa Flow, we find sunken dreadnoughts and tell the story of how a U-Boat sank HMS Royal Oak. On HMS Cavalier, we explore how new technologies such as radar and ASDIC won the Battle of the Atlantic. A daring raid by commandos called Operation Chariot once more showed the vulnerability of the battleship. But on the USS Massachusetts, we discover how the battleship found a new role as a gun platform.

The 200-year evolution of the submarine in wartime is examined, told by the designers and engineers behind the machines. This episode begins with the story of HMS Conqueror sinking the ARA General Belgrano during the Falklands War. Then the beginnings of submarines – the Turtle in the War of Independence, and the Civil War craft the Hunley. Resurgam was a Victorian submarine that sank off the Welsh coast. We tell the story of Charles Fryatt who used his ferry to ram a U-Boat rather than surrender. We explore the US submarine Becuna and the story of the giant I-400 Japanese subs. A crewmember from the USS Nautilus describes what it was like to serve on the world's first nuclear submarine.

A chronological telling of the dramatic 1944 D-Day story, focusing on the vessels that made the landings possible, with an insight into personal stories and engineering wonders. From the X-Craft lying on the seabed in the days before the invasion to the battleships such as USS Texas and HMS Belfast who bombarded the Normandy beaches. We sail on the HMS Medusa – a harbor patrol boat that played a crucial role guiding the invasion fleet through minefields. The episode explores the technology behind the most unseaworthy vessel of the invasion – the Duplex Drive tanks and pays tribute to Andrew Higgins whose landing craft brought so many men to the Normandy shore.

The evolution from wooden ships to metal ones in the second half of the 19th century is examined. This episode opens in 1845 with a tug of war between HMS Rattler and HMS Alecto to test which was better - paddle or propeller. We reinstate HMS Warrior's place in history; in 1860, she was the largest, fastest ship in the world. The Civil War battle between USS Monitor and CSS Virginia at Hampton Roads changed naval warfare. We pinpoint the moment the USA became a global superpower when we recreate how the USS Olympia won the Battle of Manila Bay, and we show how the revolutionary British HMS Dreadnought brought ship design into the 20th century.

In the late 1800s, the invention of the self-propelled torpedo incited a revolution in ship design. Navies needed new vessels to fire them and to defend against them. Enter torpedo boats--fast, lightweight ships that would play a big role in both World Wars. The very first one was constructed in Chiswick on the River Thames. Although pioneered by the British, it was the Germans that built some of the deadliest torpedo boats, known as Schnellboots. They showed their capabilities when a group of S-Boats stumbled on a D-Day rehearsal off the coast of Dorset - over 700 men were killed. The MTB 102 was the smallest vessel to ever serve as a Royal Navy flagship. John F. Kennedy first made headline news in 1943 as skipper of a motor torpedo boat, the PT-109, when he and his crew were shipwrecked in the Pacific. We tell the story of their rescue.

From the Cuban Missile Crisis to the covert naval operations of the 1980s, see the role of combat ships during the Cold War. This was an era of espionage, treachery, and the flexing of military muscle. Over four decades, the naval capabilities of East and West threatened mutually assured destruction, which helped maintain a tense but stable peace between the superpowers. Witness stories of remarkable humanity and bravery as we examine the period's most fearsome warships and subs and their operations in Cuba, Vietnam, and Soviet waters.

Explore two submarines, the Soviet Foxtrot B49 and the British HMS Ocelot – former Cold War enemies now moored in River Medway, Kent, U.K. Hear the story of Vasili Arkhipov, a Soviet submariner aboard the Foxtrot B59 who refused to authorize a nuclear launch. On board the destroyer USS Joseph P. Kennedy, see the role that she played in the blockade of Cuba. The Cold War spilled into the Far East, and we hear from Gerald Feola, a Vietnam vet and A-1 Skyraider crewmember on the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid. We tell the story of USS Midway whose Captain Larry Chambers ordered valuable helicopters to be pushed into the sea so Major Buang Lee (a South Vietnamese pilot) and his family fleeing Saigon could land in a small Cessna.

In the past two centuries of combat, ships and the brave men and women aboard them have played a major role in rescuing thousands of people--some injured, some in need of transport, and others fleeing for their lives. Board some of history's most remarkable rescue ships, from the USS Constellation, which hunted down illegal slave ships in 1860 to the most unlikely rescue ship of World War II, a tiny workboat called the Gerda III that saved hundreds of Danish Jews from Nazi terror. View stories of hospital ships and those who served on them, including the tragic story of the sinking of the Titanic's sister vessel, HMHS Britannic. Remember the sinking of the RMS Lancastria off the French port of St. Nazaire evacuating British nationals and troops from France two weeks after the Dunkirk evacuation, resulting in the largest single-ship loss of life in British maritime history with 3,000 to 5,800 fatalities.

For centuries, small vessels have made immense contributions in times of war, thanks to the expertise, bravery, and sheer willpower of their designers and crews. See the remarkable stories of war's small ships and the major roles they played at Pearl Harbor, Dunkirk, and more. Witness David-and-Goliath stories involving the tiny combat vessels that took on massive battleships and deadly subs. From the short-lived but legendary 1776 gunboat USS Philadelphia built to stop a British invasion on Lake Champlain, to the British gunboat M33 at Gallipoli, to the remarkable story of the Japanese HA.-19 minisubmarine at Pearl Harbor, see how ships of war don't have to be large to make history.

A 500-year journey aboard history's most famous, most sophisticated, and most heavily armed wooden warships. Voyage back to the age when wooden warships were the ultimate fighting machines. From the Mary Rose, one of the first great combat ships and Henry VIII's flagship, we learn about life on a Tudor ship from objects found during her salvage. While on HMS Victory, we learn the battle-winning tactics of Admiral Nelson, which tattered Napoleon's plans of invading Britain in 1805. Learn about the frigates HMS Trincomalee and USS Constitution and the British schooner Kathleen and May. Celebrate history's brave commanders and crews who rode these wooden wonders into battle. Witness how technological advancements in Europe and America led to longer, faster, and more heavily armed vessels.

Explore the dark side of naval warfare--a world of deception, double-dealing, and disguised vessels--throughout the first half of the 20th century. See how Britain's Royal Navy attempted to fool German U-boats through the technique of "dazzle painting," then look at the ingeniously designed Gizmo, an American spy vessel that never made it beyond American waters. Witness the wild, creative, and audacious ways navies disguised their vessels in times of war and the use of intelligence to carry out naval attacks.