All language subtitles for Mysteries.of.the.Abandoned.S01E03.Phantoms.of.Chernobyl.1080p.DISC.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-DoGSO_track3_[eng]

[ suspenseful music plays ]

Narrator:
A sprawling industrial town

Instantly deserted...

Gough: whatever happened here
Happened very quickly,

And it was very bad.

Narrator: ...An engineering
Triumph destroyed in minutes...

It's a great story
To be told there,

And there's something
Remarkable to go and see.

Narrator:
...And a daring mountain route
That swayed the tides of war.

I mean, given the extraordinary
Engineering feat that it is,

I mean, given the extraordinary
Engineering feat that it is,

This road should be
Better known.

Narrator:
Once, they were some of the
Most advanced structures

And facilities on the planet,

At the cutting edge
Of design and construction.

Today, they stand abandoned,
Contaminated,

And sometimes deadly.

But who built them?
And how?

And why were they abandoned?

[ suspenseful music plays ]

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Discovery communications

[ suspenseful music plays ]

Located in the heart
Of pennsylvania

Is one of the great triumphs
Of american engineering.

[ beeping ]

[ whirring ]

Towering above the forests

Is a massive
Engineering endeavor.

Is a massive
Engineering endeavor.

This now-abandoned bridge

Stands over 300 feet
Off the ground,

Runs for nearly 2,000 feet,

And uses
Some 1,500 tons of steel.

Gough:
This thing was so audacious.

Kinzua bridge became known

As the eighth wonder
Of the world.

For a couple years, it was the
Highest bridge in the world

And one of the most
Incredible engineering feats.

And one of the most
Incredible engineering feats.

Narrator:
But just how challenging
Was it to build

Such a monumental structure
Across this cavernous gorge?

And how did it become abandoned?

Looking at the ruins
Of a bridge like this

Really makes you appreciate

Just how strong and ductile
Steel really is.

Bell: when steel became
Available on a large scale,

It became cheap to produce,
That was the new, shiny material

It became cheap to produce,
That was the new, shiny material

That everyone wanted to build
Their structures out of.

Narrator: in 1882,
The phoenix iron company

Is trying to build a railway
Through kinzua gorge

That will carry coal trains
To the great lakes.

And the solution
To the problem is

The kinzua viaduct bridge.

When it goes into operation,

It's the highest trestle bridge
In the world.

*

*

But this audacious project
First soars over the gorge

With the primary material
Of its time:

Wrought iron.

Wrought iron was
The go-to material

For these kinds of structures.

It was strong.

It was much lighter

Than building bridges
Out of stone or brick.

And it was much more versatile.

Wrought iron was very
Typically used at the time

And looking back
At the photographs

Of what the bridge
Looked like then,

Of what the bridge
Looked like then,

It does look incredibly fragile
And quite skinny and slender.

But it worked.

Announcer: the speed
at which we can run
our trains

depends on the power
of the locomotive.

where a fill
would be too great,

We build a trestle or
viaduct to carry our
trains on stilts.

Narrator:
The original wrought-iron

Supporting columns
Of the viaduct

Are radical for the time.

The hollow design provides
Strength with less weight.

The hollow design provides
Strength with less weight.

The bridge's manufacturers,
The phoenix bridge company,

Assert that the hollow columns
Can support a structure

1,000 feet high, if necessary,

And over 3,300 tons of weight.

The original wrought-iron
Design of the kinzua bridge,

With its quite spindly,
Fragile-looking legs

On all the towers
That hold up the railway,

Can be quite deceptive.

Can be quite deceptive.

What was clever about it
Is making sure

That all of the members,
All of the constituents

Of each of those towers
Were only put in compression

And that's where wrought iron
Does its job very, very well.

Narrator:
But during operation,

Engineers discover
Trains going over the viaduct

Cause such vibration
Through the narrow columns

That their speed must be limited
To just 5 miles an hour.

So they grapple
With strengthening

The entire structure.

The entire structure.

It was mainly coal that was
Being taken across the top

And as the industrial revolution
Was happening across the states,

Business, commerce, dictated

That more coal needed
To be transported around.

And so the loads that were
Being taken by the bridge

Got bigger, got heavier,

Got much more stressful
For the wrought iron underneath.

So it's at that point,
The decision was taken

To replace what was made
Out of wrought iron

With steel.

With steel.

Agrawal: iron, with different
Amounts of carbon in it,

Can have wildly different
Properties.

So you get cast-iron,
For example,

Which is very, very brittle.

So I compare that to biscuits,
Which, you know,

You can kind of snap.

And wrought iron,
On the other hand,

Are a bit like the really soft

Chocolate-chip cookies that,
You know, you pull,

And they're very kind of
Crumbly and soft.

And then steel is somewhere
In between those two properties.

And then steel is somewhere
In between those two properties.

Bell:
Wrought iron and steel both come
From the same beginnings:

Iron ore.

The difference is the process
In how they're made.

And wrought iron's
Much more primitive.

If you were to look
At the surface

Of wrought iron
Under a microscope,

You'd see it's quite granular.

It's got imperfections in there.

It will snap!
If you try and bend it.

Steel, on the other hand,

Has a much more ordered
Structure.

So if you're to try and bend
That, you will get it to bend,

And you'll have to get it
A long way

And you'll have to get it
A long way

Before it eventually fails
And snaps.

[ eerie music climbs ]

[ suspenseful music plays ]

Narrator: by 1900,
The phoenix bridge company

Wants to keep the coal trains
Moving safely.

So the old wrought-iron
Columns are torn down

And a new steel structure
Is quickly put up in its place.

When another iron-built bridge,
Called the quebec bridge,

Collapses in canada in 1907,

Collapses in canada in 1907,

The engineers believe
That the kinzua's

New steel foundations
Will save lives.

Gough: the kinzua bridge
Was the brainchild

Of the phoenix bridge company,

An offshoot of a company
That made cannons.

So they took one technology --
Long, tubular cannons --

And said,
"Hey, we can turn that

Into long, tubular support
For a bridge."

But this is the same company
Who, in quebec, in 1907,

But this is the same company
Who, in quebec, in 1907,

Built a bridge
And 75 people died,

So it wasn't exactly
A good reference.

*

Narrator: so why is
The railway abandoned?

And what causes the new steel
Bridge's spectacular collapse?

*

Narrator: lying out
In rural pennsylvania,

The 300-foot-high kinzua viaduct

Is one of the great triumphs
Of american engineering.

At the turn of the 20th century,
Engineers replaced

The wrought-iron leg columns
With steel

So this trestle bridge

Can handle heavier trains
With bigger cargo.

Can handle heavier trains
With bigger cargo.

But despite this upgrade, doubts
About its safety continue.

A crew of only 40 men were able
To rebuild the bridge,

In steel, in 90 days.

Imagine that.

But they did that because
They bypassed the task

Of replacing the anchor bolts.

That would've taken much,
Much longer

And would've cost
A lot more money.

And would've cost
A lot more money.

Bell:
They redesigned the towers
Right from the top,

All the way down to the bottom,

Giving the whole bridge
The ability

To take a larger capacity
Across the top.

But, they failed
To change one component,

Which is possibly one

Of the smallest components
Of the bridge:

The anchor bolts, which fix
The towers into the ground.

So what we had at the base
Were these wrought-iron anchors,

Which weren't quite
Long enough to connect

The new steel bridge above it
Down to the foundations.

The new steel bridge above it
Down to the foundations.

So what they did was put
A little coupler piece

To join together wrought iron
To the steel.

Bell:
They also included
Some upgrades:

Installing small roller bearings
At the bottom

Of some of the feet
Of the towers on the east side,

Which is where the prevailing
Winds would've come from,

To allow a little bit
Of flexibility,

Just so that they weren't
On those anchor bolts

Holding everything above
Down into the ground.

Holding everything above
Down into the ground.

Narrator: but despite
This significant flaw,

The kinzua viaduct safely
Supports countless trains

For the next 80 years,

Until local coal supplies
Finally run out.

*

Then in 1959,
The commonwealth of pennsylvania

Turns the bridge
Into a visitor attraction.

In the 1960s,
It was really unusual

To take a decrepit, old railway

To take a decrepit, old railway

And turn it into
A tourist attraction.

Nobody had done that.

[ suspenseful music plays ]

Narrator:
So then what causes
This behemoth to fall?

On july 21, 2003,

A full-blown tornado slams
Into the eastern face

Of kinzua bridge.

94-mile-an-hour winds

Tear at the steel support
Columns on their stone bases.

The result is devastating

The result is devastating

And reveals the bridge's
Achilles' heel.

So, we had these
Wrought-iron anchors,

And they weren't quite
Long enough

To tether down this
New steel structure above it.

Then when the wind came in
And pulled this bridge upwards,

This coupler split.

It just wasn't strong enough
To do the job.

Once those wrought-iron
Anchor bolts

Had just been overstressed
And had sheered, snapped off,

Had just been overstressed
And had sheered, snapped off,

The bridge then is no longer
Attached to the ground.

The bridge effectively
Got picked up

And started to be moved around
By the wind,

Which is an incredible image,

To think of this
Manmade structure

Becoming alive, almost,
In the wind.

Narrator:
In less that three minutes,

More than half
Of the kinzua viaduct

Becomes a mass
Of twisted wreckage.

Incredibly, no lives are lost,

But the historic structure
That had stood for so long

But the historic structure
That had stood for so long

Lays in ruins.

*

Instead of demolishing
The remains,

The state of pennsylvania

Leaves the fallen columns
And rail bed where they lay.

Today, from a newly built
Public viewing platform,

Visitors can see the wrath
Of nature's fury.

Bell:
There's a great story
To be told there,

And there's something remarkable

And there's something remarkable

To go and see and feel
And be part of.

It's all there
In front of you to see:

The disaster and the devastation
That this wind has caused.

But more than that:

For engineers,
There's a case study here.

And there's something to be
Learnt for future projects:

If you're gonna replace
Wrought iron with steel,

do all of it.

[ outro plays ]

*

*

Narrator:
5,000 miles away,

Out in the remote
Pine forests of ukraine,

At the heart of the infamous
Chernobyl exclusion zone,

Lies one of
The greatest achievements

Of the soviet union.

[ eerie music plays ]

This abandoned city spreads
Across 5 miles of land...

...Has 150 buildings,

And 60 modern roads.

And 60 modern roads.

It could house a population
Of around 50,000 people.

It was one of the most
Technologically advanced cities

On the planet.

But today, it lies
Derelict and deserted,

Patrolled by armed guards and
Protected by security barriers.

The abandoned city
Is a modern-day pompeii.

The abandoned city
Is a modern-day pompeii.

It's as if overnight,
Or at least even within hours,

Life changed.

You see a huge wheel

Where the local community
Would've recreational moments.

You see children's toys.

You realize that
Whatever happened here

Happened very quickly,
And it was very bad.

[ ominous chords striking ]

Narrator:
So, what happened to this city?

Narrator:
So, what happened to this city?

Where did
All its residents go?

And how was it abandoned?

[ eerie music climbs ]

[ ominous chord strikes ]

In 1970, the soviet union

Is in a technological race
Against the west.

To power its global ambitions,

The country creates the
Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

[ eerie music plays ]

But this cutting-edge facility

Requires tens of thousands
Of people.

And, to house
These nuclear workers,

And, to house
These nuclear workers,

Soviet planners build
An entire city,

Called pripyat.

Bell:
It's very easy for us now

To look and think of it
As a disaster town.

It's linked intrinsically
With the nuclear disaster

Just down the road at chernobyl.

But, I think
You have to look at it

As how it was intended
And how life was

Before disaster struck.

*

The iconic images that we can
Picture about pripyat --

The iconic images that we can
Picture about pripyat --

The ferris wheel that's kind of
Stuck there and decaying and...

The gas masks lying around.

That tells one story in this,
Just looking at decay.

At the time,

When it was operational
And it was functional,

That was the soviet dream and
People wanted to be part of it.

[ sinister music plays ]

[ sinister music plays ]

Narrator:
Though only open to those
With government permission,

Pripyat is designed to provide

State-of-the-art housing
To its residents.

Despite the imposing
Modern architectural style,

The city is designed
For families.

And lots of them.

[ speaking russian ]

Interpreter:
The city wasn't finished
Till the very end

And all the construction
Had been preplanned.

This was a blossoming city,

This was a blossoming city,

And it was the first place
I'd seen in my life

That had so many roses
And kids around.

[ suspenseful music plays ]

Narrator:
In a remote, dense forest,
The city's planners

Have almost unlimited space
For their new town.

Without the restraints

That come with expanding
Upon a preexisting town,

They impose a utopian
Architectural vision

They impose a utopian
Architectural vision

And construct
A completely new modern city.

They build wide avenues for cars
And public transport,

As well as numerous parks
And gardens

Between the apartment blocks.

And as most of the city's
Population are under 30,

There are plenty
Of sports facilities.

You've got these
High-rise buildings,

Which normally had been used
For areas of high density,

But yet, each building
Is hugely spaced out

But yet, each building
Is hugely spaced out

With these enormous
Green areas in between

To give people space.

I think that
Would've been very new

And very quite unique, even,
And maybe it was an identifier

As, you know,
"This is the new way.

This is how the new soviet
Communities are going to be."

You know, pripyat
Was iconic at the time.

Narrator:
The heart of pripyat
Is its main square.

[ chernov speaking russian ]

Interpreter: right now
We're in the central square,

And this building right in front

And this building right in front

Was the so-called
Cultural building.

It was named energetik.

And to the right,
You can see this was a hotel.

It was called polissya.

At the time of the explosion,

It was a very high-tech
And contemporary hotel.

[ suspenseful music plays ]

And over there on that
Nine-story building,

There's an emotive slogan
That says,

"Let the atom be a worker
Rather than a soldier."

"Let the atom be a worker
Rather than a soldier."

And that's how
This whole thing turned out.

[ suspenseful music climbs ]

Narrator: with chernobyl
Only 3 miles away,

Why, and how quickly, is the
City of pripyat abandoned?

*

Narrator:
Over the course of 15 years,

The restricted city of pripyat
Swells to nearly 50,000 people.

But at 1:23 am
On the 26th of april 1986,

Only 3 miles away,

Chernobyl nuclear power plant 4
Releases a plume

Of radioactive debris
Into the atmosphere.

Of radioactive debris
Into the atmosphere.

A huge area, covering the
Ukraine and neighboring russia,

Is contaminated,

And radiation levels increase
Dramatically across europe.

[ suspenseful music plays ]

Male reporter:
Reactor number 4 exploded,

Spewing radiation
Over much of europe.

Two others have been
Permanently shut down.

It is the world's worst
Nuclear accident.

[ eerie music climbs ]

Narrator:
The brand-new city of pripyat

Is now subsumed
In a deadly radiation cloud.

Is now subsumed
In a deadly radiation cloud.

But to prevent embarrassment
About this closed city

And the secretive
Chernobyl plant,

The government
Publicly hides the disaster,

Even to its own residents.

[ suspenseful music climbs ]

Within hours,
many start falling ill.

Yet amazingly,
Another day goes by

Before the authorities
Evacuate the city.

Before the authorities
Evacuate the city.

But then, hundreds
Of buses and trucks

Pick up pripyat's inhabitants.

They are told they would only
Be leaving for a few days.

The layout of pripyat,
With its enormous, wide avenues

And big, open spaces,

In my mind,
Certainly helps the efficiency

Of the evacuation that
Took place over 48 hours,

Getting the entire population,
Almost 50,000 people,

Away from that town.

Away from that town.

If you tried to do that
In any kind of conglomeration

That had grown organically

With little streets and back
Roads all over the place,

Ah, that would have been
A lot more difficult.

It would've been
One heck of a challenge.

Narrator:
Within 48 hours,
The inhabitants from pripyat

And the surrounding area
Are evacuated,

Never to return.

[ suspenseful music climbs ]

Having structure and being able

To, I guess, break it all down
And plan that evacuation

To, I guess, break it all down
And plan that evacuation

and then having the arteries
to get people away

Just made that whole evacuation
Work really quite efficiently.

It would surprise me
If the successes

Of what happened at pripyat,
When disaster struck,

How quickly they managed
To evacuate the entire city,

Wasn't used as best-case
Analysis for future disasters.

[ suspenseful music plays ]

Narrator: today,
Pripyat remains restricted,

Narrator: today,
Pripyat remains restricted,

But for an altogether
Different reason.

As part of chernobyl's
Exclusion zone,

This abandoned city is regulated
By the state agency of ukraine.

The irony
Is that the whole place

Has now become a very popular
Tourist attraction.

Why? I think
It's that morbid fascination.

We've been watching too many
"B" movies for decades now.

You want to see
In the real world

What could happen
On a larger scale

What could happen
On a larger scale

If we get it wrong bigtime.

Narrator: rotting away
Amidst nuclear fallout,

Pripyat silently screams
A warning

Of how quickly utopian dreams
Can become haunting nightmares.

*

1,000 miles away, carved through
The top of the italian alps,

Is one of the most terrifying
Engineering projects ever built.

Is one of the most terrifying
Engineering projects ever built.

[ whirring ]

This 4-mile-long road snakes
Across the sheer mountain cliffs

6,500 feet above sea level

Through a network of 52 tunnels
Blasted through solid rock.

You've only got to
Walk on it today

To see what
A hazardous undertaking

Just moving along it
Would've been.

Forget about actually
Building it in the first place,

When there's literally
Nothing in front of you.

When there's literally
Nothing in front of you.

Narrator: so, why would
Anyone build a road

Through such an insanely
Dangerous place?

[ suspenseful music plays ]

In 1916, world war I
Is ripping europe apart.

Italy is with the allies,

Fighting against
The austro-hungarian empire.

But the austrians are invading
Italy through the alps,

With the aim of sacking venice.

With the aim of sacking venice.

Well, most of the fighting

The italians do
During the first world war

Is in the mountains
That border austria-hungary.

As a result of this,
It's known as the white war.

Of course in many cases,

They were actually fighting
Above the snowline.

The logistical challenges
That presented

And the natural
Formidable obstacles

That mountains are to the
Movement of military troops

Meant that there wasn't actually
A lot of gain on either side.

[ beeping ]

Narrator:
To cut off the invading army,

The italians must get troops
And supplies to defend venice.

The italians must get troops
And supplies to defend venice.

[ whirring ]

They brace for a final stand

At a strategic strongpoint
6,500 feet up, on monte pasubio.

Monte pasubio was of vital
Strategic importance

Because it represented
The last major obstacle

Between the austrians
And the venetian plain.

If they get beyond
That obstacle,

There's nothing stopping them
Advancing towards venice

And, if they do that,

They cut off the vast majority
Of the italian armies

They cut off the vast majority
Of the italian armies

Who were fighting
On the northeast front.

Narrator:
Their desperate solution
Is to construct this:

The perilous 52-tunnel road.

You're working on the side
Of a rocky mountain.

You've got fairly basic tools
To work with.

You're trying to explode
Into the side of this rock

And take material out

And you're creating what ends up
To be quite a narrow path --

Enough for two mules
To pass on --

Enough for two mules
To pass on --

That it just had to get done.

Bell: it can often
Come down to engineers

To make the impossible possible.

"No, it can't be done"
Is not an acceptable answer.

Narrator:
But will the italians
Construct this road

In time to save venice?

And why is it abandoned?

*

Narrator:
To beat back the austrian army
During world war I,

Italian engineers
Must construct a perilous road

Through the top of the alps.

[ suspenseful music plays ]

Their plan is audacious
And desperate:

Blast a 4-mile road through
The tunnel's mountain peaks

In record time.

The result is the
52-tunnel road.

The result is the
52-tunnel road.

*

[ grotto speaking italian ]

Interpreter:
One million soldiers
Were pitted against each other:

600,000 italians up against
400,000 austrians.

The austrians advanced
From that side

And, by taking the mountain,

They hindered
The use of this road,

Which the italian soldiers
Used to get to the front line.

This is why the
52-tunnel road was made.

Narrator:
It's hard to understate

Just how perilous
This engineering project is.

[ stones clanking ]

Engineers must face
High altitude, violent storms,

And heavy winter snow.

[ gunfire ]

But despite
The dangers and risks,

They battle unbelievable odds
In trying to make it happen,

And face death every day.

Can they do it, or are
The obstacles too great?

Can they do it, or are
The obstacles too great?

Those are the times
When engineers have made

What might seem impossible,
Possible.

Under attack, at altitude,

It's an amazing
Engineering achievement

And should be recognized
As such.

Narrator:
But constructing the 52-tunnel
Road isn't just dangerous.

It must also be made under
Extraordinary time constraints.

The whole road was built
In nine months,

At altitude,
With limited resources,

And it would've saved
Thousands of lives.

Narrator:
With only nine months,

The italians rely on what was
Then cutting-edge technology:

Heavy explosives
And a powerful new tool:

The jackhammer.

Jackhammers,
Or pneumatic drills,

Jackhammers,
Or pneumatic drills,

Came about
In the late 19th century.

And when it came to tunneling
And road-building,

It made the whole process
So much more efficient.

Previously, it was
Physical labor with chisels

To break away the rock
Or to make holes

To drop explosive charges into
to blow your way through.

A jackhammer is effectively
A hammer and a chisel combined,

Using compressed air.

You can hammer away really,
Really quickly

At that rock face.

[ speaking italian ]

[ speaking italian ]

Interpreter:
In the tunnels,
You can still see

All the holes
Created by the drills,

Which would've been filled
With explosives.

The explosion would then enable
The construction of the tunnel.

Narrator: during this grueling
And war-torn process,

Hundreds of engineers perish
Building this mountain road.

But will the italians'
Engineering efforts

Actually save venice?

And why is the 52-tunnel road
Eventually abandoned?

And why is the 52-tunnel road
Eventually abandoned?

*

Narrator:
Carved atop the italian alps

Is one of the most terrifying
Routes ever built:

The 52-tunnel road.

During world war I,
Italian engineers

Used jackhammers and explosives
For nine grueling months

To blast a 4-mile-long road
Through the solid mountain rock.

But despite the loss
Of hundreds of lives,

The plan works.

The road gets the italian army
And its supplies

Through the italian alps,

Where it beats the austrians
Back to save venice,

Helping to turn the tide
Of world war I.

Maybe it's not
As well-recognized

As it should be,

As the feat of engineering
For what it is,

Considering the conditions
Under which it was done.

Considering the conditions
Under which it was done.

I mean, you have nothing
But extraordinary admiration

For the men who did it

And were they recognized
With bravery medals?

I suspect not, yet they
Probably should've been.

Narrator:
In 1918, the allies win the war.

But after its service
In the first world war

And after several
Major accidents and deaths,

The italian army abandons
The 52-tunnel road in 1936.

Today,
The road is in a shambles.

Though it's officially
Still open to the public,

Only the most determined hikers
scale these heights.

I think this pathway,

Which now tourists use
All the time to walk on,

It's really important
For engineers to remember

That times like that come and go
Without us really expecting it

And it might be that,
During my lifetime

Or my children's lifetime,
That engineers

Or my children's lifetime,
That engineers

Will have to come up against
That sort of pressure again

And we need to remind ourselves
That, you know,

Right now, we've got
The time and the luxury

Of really thinking through stuff
And designing things very well,

But what would it actually be
Like to do something

Like the 52-tunnel road
In times of intense stress?

I think it stands there
As a reminder to us today

That things aren't always quiet

And don't have the luxury
Of time always.

And don't have the luxury
Of time always.

[ suspenseful music plays ]

Narrator:
But the men who built the road

Also left a memorial
To their colleagues who died

And to their
Backbreaking efforts

That helped turn the tide
Of world war I.

I think the engineers achieved

A huge amount in that
Very short space of time,

So where they've got
This beautiful

Ornamental concrete arch
With their motto,

It's justifiable.

It's justifiable.

Interpreter:
The work is so great,

They chose to write
The following in latin:

ex arduis perpetuum nomen,

Which means "The names of those
Who make great works

Will be remembered forever."

*

Narrator: on the other side
Of the atlantic,

Near washington, d.C.,

Lies the remains of
What's called a ghost fleet.

[ whirring ]

Here in the shallow waters
Of mallows bay, maryland,

Just on the edge
Of the potomac river,

Are the remains
Of over 200 steamships.

Some of them
Extend as long as 300 feet.

And they're all made of wood.

Langely:
It is a fabulous ghost yard.

When the wind is coming offshore
And an extremely low tide,

We still discover new vessels

We weren't aware
Were still down here.

We weren't aware
Were still down here.

Once you can get
The lay of the land,

It makes more sense than
When you first look at it

And just see this jumble
Of rotting wood.

There is a real inherent logic
To it and an amazing story.

Narrator:
But why were these ships built?

Why were they abandoned?

In april 1917,

The united states enters
The first world war.

For the previous two years,
Her factories had been producing

Military equipment
For the allies.

Military equipment
For the allies.

But now they must face
The daunting task

Of equipping
America's own forces.

Was the u.S. Prepared
When it entered world war I?

No, not really.

I mean, the reality is their
Industry was at full capacity,

Making armaments for the allies.

The entire
American industrial base

Had been turned over
To supply munitions

To the british, the french,
And the russians.

The americans
Had no spare capacity,

The americans
Had no spare capacity,

And they certainly
Weren't ready to fight.

Narrator:
But despite that, there's
A far more pressing problem.

Gough:
they were really challenged.

They couldn't keep up with,
You know, sending supplies

To the allies in europe,
And it was a real problem.

David:
If we're gonna enter the war
And not only get supplies

Over to the allies,
But also our own soldiers,

We're gonna need
An awful lot of shipping,

So how much shipping
Do we actually have?

Well, as it turned out,
Not enough,

Because this extraordinary
Order goes out

Because this extraordinary
Order goes out

To create 1,000 300-feet wooden
Vessels that would do that job.

Narrator:
Keeping the supplies
Going to europe results in one

Of the greatest shipbuilding
Projects in history.

With the advent of world war I,
There was a proposal made

To come up with something
Like 2 million tons

Of shipping in 18 months.

Phenomenal proposition.

They wanted to build 1,000
Of these wooden steamships.

They were not military vessels.
It was a civilian endeavor.

They were not military vessels.
It was a civilian endeavor.

They were support vessels.

The problem was they were
270 to 300 feet long.

[ suspenseful music plays ]

Narrator:
But because the steel foundries
And major shipyards of america

Are already pushed
To their limit,

Ordering 1,000 steamships
For delivery so quickly

Is asking the impossible.

So the u.S. Government
Must take a step back

To the construction techniques
Of a previous era.

To the construction techniques
Of a previous era.

This means building with wood.

Lambert:
In 1917, the american
Steel shipbuilding

Is not a very large industry,

So the americans see
The quick way of building ships

Is to go back
To the craft industry

And build in wood
Because that's gonna be quicker

Than trying to set up
New steel shipbuilding centers.

Langely:
There were eight basic
Designs that were issued,

And every shipyard
Kind of tweaked them

Based on their own mastery
Of it.

No one knew in 1917
When the war was going to end.

No one knew in 1917
When the war was going to end.

It wasn't
In the foreseeable future,

So 18 months
Was extremely expeditious

To try and get 2 million tons
Of shipping out

To answer a badly needed call.

*

Narrator:
But are the u.S. Shipbuilders

Able to handle
This tremendous order?

And why is this unique supply
Fleet eventually abandoned?

*

*

*

Narrator:
In 1917, the united states
Enters the first world war.

To supply their troops
In europe,

The u s. Government commissions
1,000 steamships to carry arms,

Armaments, and supplies
To help the war effort.

But, to keep the cost down,

Engineers make
The supply fleet out of wood.

Engineers make
The supply fleet out of wood.

But there's another, important
Reason to use this material.

They were largely expendable,

So if you're facing
U-boat action,

You'd rather lose
A wooden hull, quickly built,

To a metal hull.

Although, we certainly didn't
Want to lose the supplies.

It was keeping the economic
Supply chain open

That was critical.

Narrator:
Contracts for building
This giant fleet

Go to 87 shipbuilders
Across america.

Go to 87 shipbuilders
Across america.

The project is hailed
As a unique

And war-winning triumph
For american construction.

But just how difficult is
This massive engineering effort?

I think this sudden need
To create 1,000 ships

From a marine industry that
Really isn't geared up for this

Does smack of desperation.

Langely:
They built them very fast.

They had problems
With green timber.

They had problems with
Them leaking

When the vessels were launched.

When the vessels were launched.

The vast majority of them,
About 127,

Had triple-expansion engines.

If you want to think about
the titanic -- very similar.

The rest had variations on that.

They had problems
With vibrations.

So some of these vessels,
When we get in among them,

You'll see there are
Large blocks of concrete.

The tips of the metal
You see protruding here

Are part of what we call
The composite structure,

Where it's been reinforced
In a crisscross pattern.

These were added to help
Stabilize the vessels.

They were patchwork,
If you will.

Narrator:
But reverting
To wood construction

Narrator:
But reverting
To wood construction

Has an unexpected consequence.

Lambert:
The shipyards that they go to
Aren't big enough.

They don't have the resources.

Many of them
Have lost their ability

To build ships effectively
In the previous few years.

So the industry that, in 1900,
Was still fairly dynamic

Is on its last legs.

They are asking people who
Really, simply don't have

The means, the tools,
And the expertise

To do a job
That's probably beyond them,

To do a job
That's probably beyond them,

And so it proves,
Because not a single one

Has actually been used
For transporting

Either men or materials
Across the atlantic,

Which was the original purpose.

Narrator:
Additionally, alterations
To the ships' designs

Cause the costs
To spiral out of control.

Producing each one costs
The modern-day equivalent

Of a whopping $22 million.

When these shipyards were
Underway and in full flight

During the beginnings
Of this effort,

During the beginnings
Of this effort,

America became the greatest
Shipping nation in the world

Because it's not
Just building boats.

It's cutting lumber.

It's building the machinery
For the engines.

It's extracting the metals.

So it was employing
A vast number of people

Who weren't directly
Involved in the war effort,

But certainly were directly
Involved in it at home.

Narrator:
Though america helps
The allies win the war in 1918,

It takes almost a full year

Before the united states
Government

Finally cancels
The wooden fleet,

Finally cancels
The wooden fleet,

Leaving more than 200
Unwanted ships.

There's only one thing to do:

Abandon the entire project
And scuttle the fleet.

The whole project ended up being
A grand example of what happens

When you go into something
Completely unprepared,

Make hasty decisions,
And throw lots of money at it.

It's a classic modern
Democratic government problem.

It's a classic modern
Democratic government problem.

The majority of them
Were moored across the river

Near an area called widewater

And they'd take a few
At a time up to alexandria

To have them broken down
For the metal components --

Some of the wood,
Mostly the metal --

But, because
Of storms and fires,

Every time there was a problem,
They'd break loose,

They'd become hazards
To navigation.

They'd sail downstream.

So they tied them all together,
Burned them to the water line.

Here they are,
And here they remain.

[ ominous outro plays ]

*

*

Narrator:
Today, the disaster story
That has turned

Mallows bay, maryland,
Into a massive naval scrapyard

Has become an extraordinary
And unexpected success.

The 200 rotting wooden ships
Lying in the water

Now form part
of a huge nature reserve,

Proving a refuge
For ospreys and waterfowl.

*

So, we have 1,000 wooden ships

Commissioned
At $1 million apiece.

Commissioned
At $1 million apiece.

Is that american "Can do"

Or american "Should not have"?

Today, they're
An ecosystem for wildlife.

But what is that?

That's the most expensive
Nature reserve in history.

*

Narrator:
But what was once
A costly military mistake

Is now an ecological success.

*