All language subtitles for Combat.Ships.S01E02.Submarines.War.Beneath.the.Waves.1080p.WEB.h264-CAFFEiNE_track3_[eng]

[missile roars]

Narrator: For centuries,
an extraordinary war has raged

Across the world's oceans,
above and below the waves.

Man: You could kill hundreds
of people with one broadside.

These were extremely powerful
war machines.

Narrator: Shipbuilders designed
bigger and faster vessels

To outwit and crush
their opponents.

Man: That nation that has the
most powerful battleship fleet

Can destroy the enemy's
battleship fleet

And therefore control the seas,

And if you control the seas,
you control the world.

Narrator: They carried
terrifying weapons.

Man: This was gonna be
the first time

That somebody had fired
a torpedo in anger

Since world war ii.

They needed to get it right.

Narrator: But ships
have also liberated

And rescued thousands.

Man: You could think
of gerda iii

As basically a lifeboat for
persons hunted by the nazis.

Narrator:
And inspired men and women

To acts of incredible bravery.

Man: I will take you there now,
to your cannons,

To your death,
we will sink before surrender.

Narrator: These vessels
and their crews

Have shaped world history.

Man: As the commanding officer
of a missile-carrying submarine,

I was directly responsible

For helping to prevent
world war iii.

[missile roars]

Narrator: This time,
the underwater arms race--

How submarines went from being a
one-man-operated floating barrel

To sophisticated hunter-killers

That could change
the course of a war.

♪

♪

Over the years, warships have
become larger and more deadly.

But they've always been
sitting ducks.

You didn't need an impressive
navy to sink a ship.

What you needed was a vessel
that could strike underwater.

Man: The great thing
about a submarine

Is that it's invisible.

You could attack ships
secretly, covertly.

The submarine is
the ultimate stealth platform.

It can use
underwater explosives.

Don't make holes
in the top of a ship;

Make holes
in the bottom of a ship,

'cause then the ship will sink.

Narrator: The submarine
has proven itself to be capable

Of remarkable feats
of endurance and speed.

Man: The ship was actually
so fast at the time

That this portion as well
as several other portions

Were actually ripped
off the deck.

We'd never before had
a submarine capable

Of this kind of force and power.

Narrator: And also to be
a terrifying killing machine.

December 7, 1941.

Pearl harbor.

Almost 20
united states navy vessels

Were lost that historic
Sunday morning.

One that managed to escape

Was a light cruiser named
the uss phoenix.

Amazingly, she was unharmed.

41 years later,
her luck would run out.

Sold to the argentine navy
and renamed,

She would be stalked by
a british royal navy submarine

And sunk.

Her loss would make headlines
around the world.

On April 2, 1982,

Argentina's military government
invaded the falkland islands,

300 miles off the coast
of south america

And under british control
since 1833.

Stuart prebble:
It's probably hard to realize

For people who weren't around
at the time

The size of the shock
when people woke up

And learned
that the argentinians

Had invaded the falklands.

And then the news started
showing coverage

Of argentinian soldiers
standing over british soldiers

Lying flat on the ground.

It was taken very,
very seriously.

Narrator: In response,
britain sent a task force

Comprised of 100 vessels.

A 200-mile exclusion zone was
set up around the falklands.

The government declared,
"any argentine warship

Found within this zone

Will be treated as hostile

And liable to be attacked

By british forces."

The nuclear submarine
hms conqueror

Was part of the task force.

It was ordered to sail to
an area close to the falklands,

Where the warship
general belgrano

Was believed to be sailing.

As the former uss phoenix,

Belgrano had survived
pearl harbor.

But this was a new type of war.

Eric grove: The general belgrano
was a...A rather old

But still moderately capable
argentinian cruiser

Escorted by two
missile-equipped destroyers.

It was part of a planned attack
on the british task groups.

Narrator: Hms conqueror,
nicknamed "conks,"

Was a churchill-class
nuclear submarine.

♪

On April 30th, her sonar

Detected a group of ships
100 miles away.

The conqueror took off
in pursuit.

The following day,
the ships were located

Just outside the exclusion zone.

The conqueror's navigator,
narendra sethia, kept a diary.

Narendra sethia: There is
one cruiser, the belgrano,

Two destroyers and an oiler.

We caught them in the middle
of a replenishment at sea,

Which would have made
a superb target,

But unfortunately they were
south of the exclusion zone.

Prebble: The safest place
for the submarine to be

In order to follow the belgrano
and remain undetected

Is directly beneath her.

So for many of the 13 hours
or so before the attack,

Conqueror is actually 150 feet
below the belgrano,

Which is
a kind of sinister thought.

Narrator: At 5 a.M. On may 2nd,

The belgrano
and her small flotilla

Received a message to return
to their base at ushuaia.

There's been much debate

Whether the british intercepted
this signal.

What isn't disputed

Is that the british task force
commander, sandy woodward,

Was deeply concerned about
a possible argentine attack.

Grove: As far as
admiral woodward was concerned,

He was still in great danger,

And that danger would be
significantly reduced

If the belgrano group
was wiped off the slate.

Narrator: Prime minister
margaret thatcher's war cabinet

Met to consider the request
to sink the belgrano.

Permission was given.

Prebble: The signal then went
to the conqueror,

"sink the belgrano."

The captain very calmly
announced to the crew

We're going to go
to action stations after lunch.

They had roast pork
and apple pie and crumble

For their lunch...

[klaxon horn]

And then they moved in
on the belgrano.

[klaxon horn blaring]

Sethia: This afternoon
I knew what fear was.

At 1400 we received a sign

Authorizing us
to sink the belgrano,

Even though it was outside
the exclusion zone.

Prebble: Their idea is that
they're going to fire

Three torpedoes in a slight fan

So that they've got
the maximum chance

Of hitting the belgrano
as it goes past.

Captain wreford-brown says fire.

He was a quietly spoken man,

And nobody had ever heard him
speak this loudly before.

Sethia:
The atmosphere was electric

As the seconds ticked away.

43 seconds after discharge,
we heard the first explosion,

Followed by two more--

Three hits from three weapons.

The control room
was in an uproar,

30 people shouting and cheering.

Narrator: The first torpedo
missed the belgrano

And hit one of the destroyers,
but failed to explode.

The second torpedo
hit the belgrano's bow

Just below the dining hall.

The third hit her stern.

Sethia: We will never forget
hearing the sound

Of the belgrano breaking up.

[bell ringing, alarm buzzing]

The sound was like
the tinkling of glass

From a huge chandelier
that has crashed to the ground.

Narrator: 290 sailors
were killed instantly.

Another 33 perished in the water
or in the life rafts.

Sethia: We can't go back
and apologize now.

It's too late.

I wonder how many died.

I wonder, even more,
what the reaction will be?

Prebble: I think the general
reaction in britain at the time

Was jubilation,

But if you read the memoirs
of a lot of naval officers

Who were on the scene
at the time,

Quite a lot of them
are concerned

That plainly there will be
retaliation

And an all-out war is from
that point really unavoidable.

And that's exactly
what did happen.

Narrator: The british retook
the falklands,

But at great cost to both sides.

After an uneventful voyage,

Hms conqueror,
flying the jolly roger--

The signal of a successful
engagement with the enemy--

Returned home
to faslane submarine base.

Although the conqueror displayed
many of the hallmarks

Of the modern submarine,

She was, in fact,
the culmination

Of 200 years of hard work

By ingenious designers
and engineers.

Those pioneering submarine crews
were well aware

They were always just
a few seconds from sudden death.

Warships have always
been vulnerable

To attack from below.

The question was, just how could
you make an effective submarine?

The hunt began in earnest
in the 18th century,

As the new world fought
for independence from the old.

This is a replica of the turtle,

Thought by some to be
the world's first submarine

To attack a warship.

It was built in 1775

By a young american engineer
named david bushnell.

♪

The united states was at war
with britain,

And bushnell was convinced
his revolutionary design

Could be used effectively
against the royal navy.

The submarine was made of oak,
reinforced with iron bands.

Its one-man crew pedaled
to move forwards

And turned a handle
to operate the top propeller.

At the bottom
were two ballast tanks

That filled with water
to make the turtle submerge

And a pump to empty them
and rise to the surface--

A feature of all
future submarine designs.

Grove: In modern parlance
I think it would be called

A one-man midget submarine,

Designed to lay charges
under enemy ships.

Narrator:
The turtle was equipped

With a detachable drill bit.

Once it had penetrated
the enemy's hull,

The turtle would move away,

Leaving behind
an explosive charge

With a built-in
clockwork detonator.

The legend is that in 1776,

A soldier named ezra lee

Volunteered to disrupt
the royal navy's blockade

Of new york harbor.

The plan was to cross

The east river in the turtle

And place an explosive

Under hms eagle's hull.

But the screw device
couldn't penetrate

The hull's copper sheeting.

It's a story
few experts believe.

Bob mealings:
This would have been

A big, heavy cylindrical
wooden barrel

With no hydrodynamic properties

That you would typically
associate with a submarine.

So I think the physical effort

Of actually moving no more
than a few hundred yards

Would have been actually
quite enormous.

Whilst attempts may have been
made to attack warships,

I rather suspect
the attack on the eagle

Might have been wishful thinking
rather than the actual.

Narrator: The turtle had shown
that a primitive submarine

Had the potential to damage
an enemy ship.

It would take another conflict
on american soil

To encourage a further
significant leap

In submarine design.

The civil war involved
bloody battles

And great technological change.

There were developments
in weaponry and transportation

And also innovation at sea.

Within days
of the outbreak of war,

The union forces of the north

Established a blockade
of confederate ports,

Known as the anaconda plan.

It aimed to cripple trade
in cotton and munitions.

In response, the south
devised an ingenious strategy.

Grove: They were looking for new
ways to exploit technology

To actually mount attacks
on the superior fleet

That was inflicting a lot
of economic damage on them.

Narrator: A group of southern
businessmen and engineers,

Led by 40-year-old h.L. Hunley,

Experimented with submarines
in alabama.

Their greatest success
was a 30-foot vessel

Named the fish boat.

Attempts to use
electric batteries

And steam power had failed.

They now relied on something
more old-fashioned.

Grove: It was the most developed

Of what you might call
the man-powered submarines--

The submarines that relied
on human power.

Narrator:
The fish boat was operated

By eight men turning
a propeller shaft.

It had two ballast tanks--
one at either end.

And along the keel, a weight
that could be detached

For emergency buoyancy.

News of the submarine
made its way

To charleston, south carolina,

The confederate army's
biggest port.

The south wanted to attach
an explosive to the fish boat

And blow up the union's ships.

John quarstein: During 1863,

Pierre gustave toutant
beauregard

Was in command of the defenses
of charleston,

And he wanted to do
everything he could

To try and break through
the blockading fleet.

Narrator: During trials,
the submarine's crew claimed

They surfaced so close
to the blockading ships

They could hear
the sailors singing.

However,
the fish boat sank twice

And a total of
13 crew members drowned,

Including the designer,
h.L. Hunley.

The sub was named after him.

Undeterred, a new volunteer crew
was found and a plan devised

To sink the uss housatonic,
anchored off charleston.

It was a key vessel

In the north's blockade
of the harbor.

Grove: The housatonic was

Quite a significant
american surface ship.

And after initial failures

They managed to get the hunley
into position.

It sort of paddled
its way forward

With the men inside
working very hard.

These early boats were armed
with spar torpedoes,

And there's a spar
pointing from the front

With an explosive on the end.

The trouble with that was it was
virtually an early version

Of suicide bombing.

Quarstein:
We call 'em torpedoes,

But really they're mines
at the long of a long pole.

They have a barbed end,
so when the ship rams the hull,

The barb will keep it in there

As the hunley then
has to back out.

Narrator: During the raid,
the housatonic's lookouts

Spotted the hunley
and desperately tried to escape.

But it was too late.

Grove: The spar torpedo
contacted the housatonic.

It went off.

It caused a huge explosion.

Narrator: She disappeared
below the waves

In only three minutes--

The first ship to be sunk
by a submarine.

Five of her crew drowned.

The housatonic sank,
but so did the hunley.

Grove: At one level this was

The first successful
submarine attack.

But at another level
it demonstrated

That really you had to develop

A better weapon
for the submarine

And also to produce
a proper power system as well.

Narrator: A more effective
method of propulsion

Was not long in coming.

It was developed by an unlikely
victorian inventor,

Who managed to harness
the latest steam technology,

But would ultimately be
defeated by the sea.

In November 1995, off the coast
of rhyl in north wales,

A diver spotted something
unusual lying on the seabed.

It soon became clear
that this was a wreck--

The wreck of a vessel
with worldwide significance.

Invisible
for over a hundred years,

It was the world's first
fully powered submarine.

It was designed not
by a shipbuilder or an engineer

But by a young curate
named reverend george garrett.

Chris holden:
He was a very eccentric,

Very knowledgeable,
very interesting type of guy.

I mean, a clergyman
who builds submarines?

This was a...A venture
into a new type of warfare,

Something he hoped to sell
to the royal navy.

Narrator: Garrett sketched
his design for the submarine

On the back of an envelope.

It was to be powered
by a fireless steam generator,

Similar to those just introduced
on the london underground.

Hydroplanes on each side would
take the submarine underwater.

And when the engine was stopped,
it would rise to the surface.

The submarine
had a serious purpose.

It was designed to be able
to carry torpedoes.

This replica stands
in birkenhead docks,

Just a few feet from where
the submarine was launched

On November 26, 1879.

Garrett christened her
"resurgam."

Holden: Resurgam is a latin
phrase for "I shall arise,"

And what a fantastic name for
a submarine, "I shall arise."

♪

Narrator: Early trials in the
river mersey were successful,

Although conditions
for the three-man crew

Were nearly unbearable.

George price: The heat
from the boiler was intense,

Varying from 110 to 115 degrees,

And we experienced
great discomfort

From the air pressure
on the eardrums.

We had to stand all the time,

Owing to the very limited
accommodation,

And when we returned
to the surface,

We were all exhausted.

Narrator: The interior
of the resurgam was gloomy.

The only light
was provided by candles.

Mealings: The pioneer
submarine crews were brave,

And they were prepared
to take on an adventure

Because it would have been

Like nothing else
they'd ever experienced.

Narrator: The royal navy asked
george garrett to demonstrate

What his submarine could do

In portsmouth,
hundreds of miles away.

In January 1880, garrett sailed
with his two-man crew

From birkenhead docks,
up the river mersey,

And out to sea.

He expected the voyage
to take a month.

Price: The navigator
had lost his bearings,

And we came up alongside
a full-rigged ship,

Homeward bound for liverpool.

When mr. Garrett
threw open the top

And shouted "ship ahoy!"
and inquired where we were,

The captain of the ship
was terribly surprised

And inquired who we were.

We informed him that we were

A submarine torpedo boat
from liverpool,

And we're going to portsmouth.

The captain then asked
how many were in our crew,

And when mr. Garrett told him
three, the captain answered:

"well, you are the three biggest
fools I have ever met."

Holden: It's January,
the weather is bad,

He eventually realized
he couldn't progress any further

And went into the estuary at
rhyl on the north wales coast.

Narrator: A yacht took
the resurgam under tow,

But the rope snapped.

Heavy seas swamped the sub,
whose conning tower hatch

Couldn't be closed
from the outside,

And she sank
in 60 feet of water.

The tragedy,
chris holden believes,

Is that even if garrett
and the resurgam

Had made it to portsmouth,

The admiralty wasn't genuinely
interested in his invention.

Holden: The navy thought
they were underhand

And we shouldn't be using
submersible ships

To inflict damage.

It was big warships, big guns,
that was the way forward.

This was something sneaky,
definitely underhand.

Narrator: Just a decade
after garrett's death,

Submarines would become
a deciding factor in a world war

And possess technology
and deadly weaponry

That he could only
have dreamed of.

The 19th century
had been a time

Of expanded
submarine development,

With mixed results.

But by the early years
of the 20th century,

Reliable gas engines

Revolutionized
their performance.

Submarines were now something
to be feared.

On March 28, 1915, at the height
of the first world war,

A british ferry
named the brussels

Left harwich for the neutral
dutch port of rotterdam.

Its skipper was 45-year-old
captain charles fryatt.

He knew these waters well.

It was his 143rd crossing
of the war.

A few hours into the voyage,

Fryatt spotted
a german submarine, u-33,

Off the starboard bow.

U-boat captain konrad gansser

Signaled to the brussels
to stop.

Gansser had been in command
of u-33 for five months

And was hungry
for his first kill.

♪

Grove: In 1915 the germans began
unrestricted submarine warfare.

They unleashed their submarines

To attack enemy and indeed
neutral merchant ships

In certain zones on sight.

They were allowed
to torpedo them on sight.

This was an attempt
to blockade britain

The only way the germans could.

They couldn't defeat
the royal navy on the surface,

So they would use their u-boats
as commerce raiders.

Narrator:
As far as merchant captains

Like fryatt were concerned,

Their home waters
were now a war zone.

They could be attacked
without warning.

U-boats were earning
a nasty reputation.

Grove: There were cases

Of people being picked up
out of the water,

Put on the casing of submarine,

And then the submarine
would dive.

Certain german captains
were not really gentlemen,

Even if they weren't
actually pirates.

Narrator:
Fryatt had only seconds

To decide what to do about u-33.

What he feared most
was not her torpedoes,

But her deck gun.

He knew these guns had sunk
scores of merchant ships.

It was time to fight back.

Mark baker: U-33 had
a 105-millimeter gun on board,

Which carried 300 rounds
of ammunition.

That's compared
to the six torpedoes it carried.

Submarines didn't have
a huge arsenal of torpedoes.

Narrator: Captain fryatt
decided to eliminate the threat

Of the deck gun.

[boom]

He would ram u-33.

Terry farrell: He ordered
his engine room

To put the engines
at full steam ahead,

And he steered the ship for the
conning tower of the submarine.

The german commander
of the u-boat

Saw that he wasn't
going to surrender,

And he had to make a decision
as quick as possible,

And so he took a decision
to dive.

Baker: Fryatt continued
to steer directly for the spot

Where he saw the u-boat go down.

Farrell: Some reports say that
the periscope of the submarine

Was only two foot away from
the side of the ss brussels.

Stokers down in the engine room,
some of them made statements

They felt a bump and a scrape,

Almost as if he had
hit something.

Narrator: Although damaged,
u-33 survived the encounter

And went on to sink 40
merchant ships that year alone.

The u-boats' effectiveness
surprised even the germans.

Grove: You could send them out
into the western approaches.

You could deploy them in
the north sea off british ports,

And they proved to be,
unexpectedly,

A vitally important part of the
first world war germany navy,

Perhaps the most important part,
in the end.

Narrator:
Despite the u-boat threat,

Captain fryatt continued
his regular voyages

Across the channel.

But u-33's encounter
with the brussels

Wasn't forgotten by the germans,

As fryatt would discover
the following year.

On the 22nd of June 1916,

The brussels was again sailing
from rotterdam to tilbury.

Baker: Among the passengers were
100 or so belgian refugees,

However, according
to the germans,

He had 50 escaped
russian prisoners of war.

Farrell:
Shortly after leaving holland

He was surrounded
by german torpedo boats.

This time he couldn't see
any course of escape,

And he was forced to take
control of his ship

On the instructions of the
commander of the torpedo boats,

And he was escorted to belgium.

Narrator: The germans
scuttled the brussels

And decided to try
captain fryatt.

The charge--attempting to ram
submarine u-33.

The trial began at 2 p.M.
On July 27, 1916.

The verdict--
execution by firing squad.

Fryatt was dead by sunset.

Britain was outraged.

Prime minister herbert asquith

Declared
in the house of commons

That fryatt had been murdered
by the germans.

On the western front,

Gunners wrote defiant messages
on their shells

Before firing them
towards enemy lines.

U-33 succeeded in sinking
a total of 84 ships

In her career.

But what about
the wider u-boat campaign

In the waters
around the british isles?

Was it successful?

Grove: It was hoped that
the ruthlessness of this attack

Would scare off neutral shipping

And would so reduce
british shipping

That the british empire

Would cease to be
an operational thing.

But there were too many ships,

And shipping management
was so effective...

It did not give
a decisive result.

Narrator: Although the german
u-boat campaign

Didn't bring britain
to its knees,

It exposed the vulnerability
of surface vessels

To underwater attack.

The campaign also forced
the united states

To totally rethink
its submarine strategy.

At the entrance to the mystic
seaport museum in connecticut

Is a vessel called kingston ii.

She's small but powerful,
and with a surprising history.

♪

The kingston is a tugboat
constructed in the 1930s

By the least experienced
shipyard workers.

Her job was to guide submarines
in and out of port.

Quentin snediker: Kingston ii
was built by apprentices,

If you will, learning techniques
of arc welding,

Electric arc welding.

This was a means of learning
those techniques

For people who would then
move on to build submarines.

It's actually built
out of scrap steel

From other submarine
construction around the yard.

Narrator: For four decades,
the kingston escorted

More than 70 new subs made
by the electric boat company

Out to sea.

The little tugboat witnessed

A great deal of technological
change during those years.

The naval battles
of the first world war

Had a lasting impact
on the design of submarines.

Greg williams:
During world war I

The world kind of was shocked

At the way germany
had used their u-boats,

So when germany started

Just sinking ships
out of the blue,

Following the war there was
a large legal discussion

Between the main powers
of the world

About what submarines
should explicitly be used for.

Narrator:
After the first world war,

The u.S. Navy decided that its
submarines should be designed

To survive long missions and
be able to operate on their own

Without help
from the rest of the fleet.

One submarine
that the kingston assisted

On her maiden voyage
during the second world war

Was the uss bacuna.

Known as a fleet boat,

The diesel-powered vessel

Was built for endurance.

♪

Williams: She was one of the
more advanced subs of her time.

The fleet boat itself
was designed to operate

As part of the advance force

For the...For the u.S. Fleet
moving across the pacific,

And so they can go
from pearl harbor

To japan and back easy.

♪

This is the control room
of bacuna.

This is the heart of the boat.

This is our
compressed-air manifold.

These different valves
each correspond

To a different ballast tank.

The valve forces air
into the tank,

And the water comes out,
we come back up to the surface.

These control
the angle of the dive,

And so you keep control of that
with this right here.

This is called the bubble.

So submariners are sometimes
called bubbleheads.

This is why.

The usual angle of depth is
about seven to ten degrees.

Anything more than that,

And stuff starts falling
off the walls.

Narrator:
These submarines were built

To withstand
tremendous pressure.

Becuna's steel hull
is almost an inch thick.

Williams: It's strength enough
to dive down

To a test depth of 300 feet.

There are records of boats
diving down to about 800 feet.

One of them came back up,

And it was
a full 23 inches shorter.

They were crash diving,

They were trying to escape
a japanese destroyer.

They lost control,
went down 800 feet.

When they came back up, their...

Their boat
was 23 inches shorter,

And that was the last time
she saw service.

When becuna dives or surfaces,

When you dive, you hear this
alarm twice. Dive, dive.

When you surface,
you'll hear it three times,

But this is what
it'll sound like.

[klaxon horn blaring]

You also have general quarters,
which is battle stations.

[beeping]

And then our collision alarm.

[whistling siren]

Narrator: During world war ii,

Submarines made up only 2%
of the u.S. Navy,

Yet they sank 55%
of japan's merchant fleet

And 30% of her navy.

Japanese submarines
were ineffective hunters.

Grove:
The japanese did not regard

The attack on merchant ships

As an honorable way
of waging war.

So they tended to use
their submarines

In support of their fleet

And not as a weapon
against the massive shipping

Crossing the pacific,

Which might have created a sort
of battle of the pacific,

You know, rather like
a battle of the atlantic.

Narrator:
But the japanese did develop

A remarkable secret weapon--

The largest submarine
of its day--

Designed to attack
the united states mainland.

It heralded a new era
of submarine warfare.

During the second world war,
the japanese imperial navy

Suffered greatly at the hands
of the united states navy.

But towards the end of the war,

A new submarine
took to the ocean--

The japanese I-400 class.

With these vessels,

They hoped to change
the course of the conflict.

Each sub carried three seaplanes
in a massive hangar.

The planes had the ability
to bomb u.S. West coast cities.

Grove: They were built as
submersible aircraft carriers.

The original plan seems to have
been to attack targets

On the west coast
of the united states,

Possibly using
biological weapons,

But there was some debate

In the japanese high command
about this,

And they were considered
to be dishonorable.

Narrator:
Fortunately for the allies,

The japanese surrendered before
the I-400s could be deployed.

The u.S. Navy seized
the gigantic subs

And had started inspecting them

When the russians
announced they, too,

Were sending teams
of technicians

To analyze the I-400s.

Grove:
The americans took them over

And as quickly as they could
sank them,

Because they didn't want
the russians

Getting their hands on them.

They didn't want the russians
to have a threat

Against the united states
using similar ideas.

Narrator: For 200 years,

Conflict had prompted advances
in submarine technology.

The threat of a cold war between
the west and the soviet union

Was no different--

A new type of submarine
was needed for a nuclear age.

On January 21, 1954, new york's
grand central terminal

Was particularly busy
for a Thursday.

Extra trains had been engaged
to take passengers to the banks

Of the thames river
in connecticut

For the launch
of a very special submarine.

♪

The submarine had
the hull designation "571,"

But was known as "nautilus,"
in tribute to the vessel

In jules verne's novel

"twenty thousand leagues
under the sea."

Reginald preston:
The launch of nautilus

Was a national event truly.

There were on the order
of about 15,000 people

Who descended on the area
to view the launch.

The local airport was shut down
to accommodate

All the special charter flights
that would come in.

School kids lined the banks,

First lady mamie eisenhower
was the ship's sponsor,

And after all the speeches
were done

She was the one
who swung the bottle

As the ship was launched

And slid down the waves
into the thames river.

Narrator: For almost 200 years,

Submarine designers had been
trying to find a vessel

That could stay underwater
for the longest possible time.

Diesel submarines had proved
themselves to be reliable,

But they had their limitations.

They could submerge
to periscope depth only.

Batteries with a limited life
were used when going deeper.

Ultimately they spent just 10%
of their time underwater.

Preston:
With nuclear propulsion,

You were no longer tethered
to the surface,

To the atmosphere,

To rely on that oxygen
to run your diesel engine,

And she could run indefinitely
at depth and speed,

Essentially limited
by the amount of food

That they took on board
to feed the crew.

Now that we were no longer
on the surface,

The preponderance of the time,

We were effectively
unable to be found,

Unable to be located,

Which made us
a very venerable weapon

Against all other
surface convoys

That we might come up against.

Narrator: A nuclear submarine
works in fact

On a victorian principle--

Using steam to drive a turbine.

Water is pumped at pressure
through the nuclear reactor

And is heated
as the reactor core

Splits uranium atoms.

A heat exchanger uses
the hot reactor water

To create the steam.

Pressure from the steam
then drives a turbine

Attached to the propeller shaft

And a second turbine
to generate electricity.

The man behind the u.S. Navy's
nuclear program

Was admiral hyman rickover,

A maverick with
an engineering background.

Rickover founded
a nuclear power school

To train his submariners
for his revolutionary fleet.

Gary bell: He interviewed
perhaps the top 10 or 15%

Of the submarine school
graduates at that time,

Personally interviewed them,
and selected them to go,

And from then on,
the training was very rigorous.

Grove: Rickover was
a very formidable

Bureaucratic politician.

Very strong-minded.

But he knew
how to handle congress,

And he got congressional support

For the nuclear
submarine program

And the nuclear power program
in general.

He truly is the father
of the nuclear navy.

Bell: He rode every submarine

That went to sea
for the first time,

On their maiden voyage,

And he dictated what
the maximum speed would be.

At some times
during your career,

At least as a commanding officer

Whenever you were
in the shipyard,

You had to write him
a personal letter every week

And describe those things that,
that you messed up on,

And if you didn't say, hey,
you know, I messed up here,

He would get on the phone
and say,

"hey, bell, if you didn't find
anything wrong,

You're not looking,
get down there and get to work."

Narrator: In 1949, a prototype
pressurized water reactor

Inside a submarine hull

Was constructed
in a remote part of idaho.

William engdall, a member
of nautilus' very first crew,

Was sent there for training.

William engdall:
They actually had the whole,

Part of the submarine there
out in the middle of the desert.

We stayed there for six weeks,

And we stood watches on the hull
and so forth.

I think what it was,
they wanted to make sure

That we knew it wasn't
going to be a threat

Or there would be no danger
of the nuclear power.

Narrator: At 11 a.M.
On January 15, 1955,

The ever-reliable tug
kingston ii

Assisted the nautilus

As she headed to sea
for the first time.

Nuclear vessels need help
getting out of port,

Just like diesel vessels.

Nautilus soon proved to be
extremely quick--

Above and below the water.

Preston: We have a piece
of the original teak decking

Off the ship.

The ship was actually so fast
at the time

That this portion, as well as
several other portions,

Were actually
ripped off the deck

Due to the ship's
incredible speed capability.

We'd never before
had a submarine

Capable of this kind
of force and power.

Narrator: Nautilus was loved
by her crews.

She had almost every
creature comfort--

A coke machine, a jukebox--

And purer air
than on the surface.

Engdall: I can still have
flashbacks of different things

That happened to me
when I was actually at sea.

I can still think
of different interactions

And different things we did.

You're in the torpedo room
right now.

My bunk was right here,
and I used to have a guy

Who used to sleep next to me,
and he snored terribly.

He'd keep me awake, you know,
so what I'd do is I'd shake him

And say "french, french,
time to go on watch."

What he'd do is he'd get up
and go clean up and all that

And put his clothes on,

And then I'd try to get to sleep

Before he realized
he wasn't going on watch.

[chuckles]

Narrator: And it set
a remarkable number

Of endurance records,

And in July 1958
embarked on a mission

To travel under the ice
and reach the north pole.

Preston: This was president
eisenhower's response

To the soviet launching
of the sputnik satellite.

We were unable to get
our space program

Successfully into space,

And we were behind
in the technology race.

We were also behind politically,

Because it looked like we were
falling behind the soviets.

Needing a solution, a military
solution to a political problem,

Eisenhower tapped the navy
and the submarine force

To send nautilus
to the north pole

To prove that we had
the technology and the ability

To get under the ice pack
and operate in an area

Where submarines had never
operated before then.

Narrator: It was
a highly dangerous mission.

Compasses didn't work
so close to the pole.

And there were no charts
showing the depth of the ice.

Her captain, william anderson,
was prepared to fire torpedoes

To blast a hole in the ice
if necessary.

But on August 3, 1958,

Nautilus successfully passed
under the north pole.

One of her crew dressed
as santa claus to celebrate.

Narrator: Nautilus went on
to patrol the world's oceans

For almost 30 years--

A powerful symbol
of naval supremacy.

Preston: While historians
will tell you that the shift

From, say, sails
and ships of the line

To coal-fired
and steam-powered ships

Was important in naval warfare,

Nautilus was not only important
in naval warfare,

She was also important
in world history.

Grove: The nuclear submarine
allowed the submarine

To fulfill all its potential.

They are amazing pieces
of technology.

Narrator: The submarine began
as a risky experiment

With little hope of success.

But it became a vessel

That could single-handedly
change the fortune of war.