All language subtitles for Combat Ships - S03E01 - Game Changers WEBDL-1080p x265 EAC3 5.1 [EN] [EN] MrPanda_track3_[eng]

[Narrator] This time
on "Combat Ships."

Breakthrough vessels
that made history.

[guns blasting]

[Elliot] These guns
were not something

that you wanted to be
on the wrong side of.

You're looking at a
scene that's more out of

"The Texas Chainsaw
Massacre" than anything else.

[Narrator] Ships that
were experimental.

[Dave] There were no
computer programs.

There were no software packages

to calculate what
was gonna happen.

They just had to build
a deck and try it.

[Narrator] Ships that were
revolutionary, but vulnerable.

If you're carrying 10,000
tons of explosives,

you're a floating bomb.

[Narrator] And the people
who made them game-changers.

She is one of the grandmothers
of the computer age.

[Raye] It normally takes two
years to do the rough draft.

I brought that rascal in
in 18 hours and 26 minutes.

[guns blasting]

[upbeat rock music]

[Narrator] Combat ships.

Fast, effective.

His orders were to find the
British and pick a fight.

[Narrator] Going right to
the heart of the battle.

The Marines have always
thought of themselves

as the spear point of the
United States military power.

Their whole doctrine of combat
was to go fast, hit hard,

get it over with in a hurry.

[gun blasting]

[Narrator] Combat ships
have changed the world-

She gained her freedom,

now she's going down
a river with an army.

She was like,
"We're about to show you

what we're working with!"

[Narrator] Thanks to clever
design, raw firepower,

and the heroism of their crews.

The rule of thumb on a frigate

is you can lose two
spaces and stay afloat.

But If you lose a third,

you go to Davy Jones's
locker in a hurry.

[dramatic music]

[guns blasting]

[explosion blasts]

[missiles whooshing]

[explosion booming]

[tense music]

[Narrator]
On December 7th, 1941,

the Japanese mini-sub HA-19
washed up on a Hawaiian beach.

[explosion blasts]

Two miles away, Pearl
Harbor was ablaze.

The sub's mission was to
strike at ships in the harbor,

but its compass failed.

One crew member drowned
and the other was captured.

But the sub's journey
was far from over.

The U.S. government recognized

a propaganda opportunity
when they saw one.

It was put on the
back of a truck

and sent all over the country.

Hundreds of thousands of
people paid to look inside.

[Joe] One report we've had
is that the war bonds

people donated for this, to
get on and see this thing,

actually paid for all the
damage at Pearl Harbor.

[sparse country-blues music]

[Narrator] In November 1943,

the sub arrived in
Little Rock, Arkansas.

Admission was $1 for
children and five for adults.

One of those who paid
to go into the submarine

was seven-year-old
Raye Montague.

[David] She didn't know
what was going on.

She just knew that she was
going out for a day trip.

They let her go down
inside and she crawled down

and she said it had a
really unique kind of smell.

But she just started imagining

what it was like to be
someone and it was working,

living inside that submarine.

And so she looked around
and saw all these dials

and gauges and levers.

[Narrator] One of the
Japanese crew steered

while the other
operated the valves

that controlled
diving and surfacing.

Armed with two torpedoes it
had a range of only 100 miles,

so a larger sub had to
tow it to its target.

[David] So she asked I guess

what any little kid
would wanna know,

"How do I learn to do
something like this?"

And the person that she was
talking to basically said,

"To do this, you have
to be an engineer,

"to build something like this.

"But don't worry, you don't ever
have to worry about that."

And so obviously,
the implication there

was because it's the
segregated South,

being an engineer was
a male-dominated field.

And adding to that,
being an African-American

and the lack of access to
education were barriers.

But she didn't realize
that she had been insulted.

She just figured, "Well,
there's a lot for me to learn."

[gentle pensive music]

[Narrator] Young Raye vowed
to become an engineer.

But in Arkansas,
African-American women

weren't allowed to
study engineering,

so, instead, she
graduated in 1956

from Arkansas Agricultural,
Mechanical & Normal College,

today Arkansas Pine Bluff,

with a degree in
science and business.

Still determined to
become an engineer,

Raye headed to Washington and
secured a job with the Navy,

as one of the few
black women working

in the Applied Mathematics Lab.

[David] Even with her
excellent grades,

even with her college
degree in business,

they started her off
as a clerk typist,

which is the lowest position.

So, it was not an application
of her degree at all.

[Narrator] Raye was undaunted.

Her department had computers,
large and unwieldy.

But for the 1950s,
cutting edge.

Raye learned how to work them
by watching other people.

Then one day, all the
operators called in sick.

[David] And so she
started hitting the dials,

and flipping stuff.

Somebody came in, and pulled
her away from the machine,

and said, "What are you doing?"

Said, "I'm operating
the equipment."

And they said, "Well,
you're not an engineer.

"You're not allowed
to touch this

"multi-million dollar
piece of equipment here."

And so, I think
the person thought

that she was gonna
get in trouble,

and went and reported her.

And then upper management came
in to see what she was doing

and said, "Fine, if
you can handle this,

"then we're gonna give
you more responsibilities,

"'cause apparently,
you know how to do this

"without having gone through
the formal training."

[gentle upbeat jazz music]

[Narrator] Despite the
discrimination she faced,

Raye became an expert
computer operator

for the Navy in the
1950s and 1960s.

Raye often worked
late into the night.

David would come with her.

[David] I guess she
didn't realize

that you weren't
supposed to be bringing

your family members.
[laughs]

But she was dedicated
to getting a job done.

I was taught how to do
punch cards and program.

And that was how I spent
the time amusing myself,

entertaining myself.

I didn't realize it
was actually a skill

that you could get a job
doing at the time. [laughs]

It was just fun, like a toy.

[dramatic music]

[Narrator] When Richard Nixon
won the presidency in 1968,

he was determined
to rebuild the Navy.

He wanted new ships
for a new decade.

The American Navy at
this time was looking for

what they call the
low end of the mix.

They needed a lot, relatively
cheap, surface competence,

to replace the old,
World War II destroyers

and destroyer escorts.

[suspenseful music]

[Narrator] President
Nixon was in a hurry.

The Navy turned to one of its
leading computer operators.

Raye was given a project

that seemed to be
an impossible task,

to lay out, step by step,

how a new warship might be
designed using a computer.

That had never been
done before.

[Raye] It normally takes two
years to do the rough draft,

the president has given
the Navy two months.

I brought that rascal in
in 18 hours and 26 minutes.

[Narrator] Raye's
design became the FFG- 7

or Oliver Hazard Perry-class
of guided-missile frigates.

[upbeat heavy rock music]

[guns blasting]

The frigate was a game-changer,

the first ship made
by computer.

In April 1988, for
the first time,

the FFG-7 class was
tested in battle.

The USS Simpson was
part of a three-ship

surface action group
in the Persian Gulf

that attacked an
Iranian oil platform.

The Iranians wanted revenge.

They deployed a gunboat
named the Joshan,

armed with Harpoon missiles.

[James] It's about a
500-pound warhead.

And it's a big flying
telephone pole besides,

it can take out a warship.

[Narrator] The
commanding officer

of the cruiser USS Wainwright,

the lead ship of
the action group,

ordered the Joshan
to stop or be sunk.

At that point,

the Joshan locked
up the Wainwright on

fire control radar.

Wainwright fired chaff.

Joshan fired a Harpoon
missile at the Wainwright.

And Wainwright called me and
said, "Batteries released."

[Narrator] Jim gave
the order to fire.

The Simpson launched
a Standard Missile,

at a range of 13 miles.

[James] Joshan's missile,
the Harpoon,

flew at about Mach 0.7, 0.75.

My Standard Missile
flew at Mach 2.5.

[dramatic music]

So, the Standard Missile
actually got to Joshan

before the Harpoon
got to Wainwright.

[Narrator] The Joshan was
hit and sank in flames.

[James] Every system worked
exactly as it was supposed to.

Every sailor did his job.

It was just true professionals

doing what they did and
doing it flawlessly.

[Narrator] Raye Montague's
ship had performed well.

Her influence was felt
throughout the Navy.

In the 1970s and '80s,
she worked on submarines,

aircraft carriers, and landing
helicopter assault craft.

She is, I would
think, in many ways,

one of the grandmothers
of the computer age.

[Narrator] Raye died
in October 2018.

[Raye] I feel so good

when I hear about some of
the ships I've worked on

are still in the fleet,

and to know that I'm still
fighting for my country.

I had to fight like the devil

to get it there to do
what I needed to do,

but look at what I've done

and look at how
our guys and gals

are using this stuff
defending our country.

So, the little girl who saw
the sub when I was seven,

I would tell her now,
"You can do it.

You can handle it.

And the important
thing for you

is to open doors
for other people."

[majestic music]

[Narrator] When the USS Simpson
was decommissioned in 2015

it was the last active US Navy
vessel to sink an enemy ship.

That honor now lies
with the Navy's

longest commissioned vessel,

another iconic game-changer.

[tense music]

In the early 19th century,
Britannia ruled the waves

with a fleet of over 600 ships,

bigger than the fleets
of its nearest rivals

France and Spain combined.

[cannons blasting]

The British ships needed crews.

Sailors from other nations were
seized,

many were American.

Our merchant ships
were being stopped,

sailors were being pressed,

forced to serve
in the Royal Navy,

that didn't settle well
in the United States.

[Narrator] By 1812 the
Americans had enough.

They declared war on their
former colonial master.

[ominous music]

But how could they hope to
take on the British and win?

The American Navy only had
about 20 sea-going vessels

and most of them
were in bad shape.

[dramatic music]

But the United States had a
secret weapon, a game-changer.

A ship that would become

the most iconic vessel
in American history.

[cannon blasting]

The USS Constitution.

[thoughtful dramatic music]

USS Constitution was designed

by shipbuilder
Joshua Humphreys.

[Anne] Joshua Humphreys

advocated that
we build frigates,

but not traditional frigates.

Frigates that
were a bit longer,

more heavily built,

stronger than traditional
European models,

so they would be an outmatch
for a typical European frigate.

[Carl] Frigates were
the swift lonely,

brave hunters of the sea.

They tended to capture
the public's imagination

more than other ships or
ship captains were likely to.

[Narrator] America's navy
would still be far outnumbered.

But with the right frigates,

they could take the
British on, ship-to-ship.

So Humphreys built a frigate
made of expensive solid oak,

over 22 inches thick.

[Anne] We couldn't build
iron ships back then,

but she was so strong

she seemed as if she
were an iron ship.

[Narrator] Constitution
was equipped

with 20 32-pounder carronades.

And 30 24-pounder guns, four
more than British frigates.

Their weight posed a problem.

Wooden ships bent
at the bow and stern

where there was less
support from the water.

It was even more true
with Constitution

with the larger number
of heavier guns,

so one of the features
that Constitution

had incorporated
into its construction

that allowed its
design to be feasible

were these large
diagonally laid frames,

stretching from the keel
up to the next deck.

[Narrator] These
so-called diagonal riders

supported the weight at
either end of the ship.

Constitution carried
its 50 guns with ease.

Now it would have to
prove its worth in battle.

[water splashing]

In August 1812, the
Constitution sailed from Boston

on the hunt for British ships.

Its captain was
39-year-old Isaac Hull.

[suspenseful music]

[John] He was looking
for a fight.

His orders were to find a
British ship and attack.

Every great captain, that's
how you made your bones.

That's how you gain respect of
your peers and of your crew.

In not just sailing around

and going from
point A to point B,

you earned your
stripes in combat.

[tense dramatic music]

[Narrator] On August 19th,
600 miles from Boston,

the Constitution spotted the
British frigate HMS Guerriere.

With 38 guns, the
Guerriere was smaller

but still formidable,

and under the command
of Captain James Dacres.

And his mission was similar,

find an American warship
and pick a fight.

[dramatic music]

[cannon blasting]

Guerriere fired first from
several hundred yards,

and the balls were
getting close

and the Constitution crew
was starting to get nervous

because Isaac Hull had not
ordered a return fire yet.

[Narrator] He had trained his
crew for just this moment.

[Anne] Hull waited, waited,
waited at the guns

until they were really close
and then they were able to give

a full broadside to Guerriere.

[cannons blasting]

[Elliot] These guns were
not something

that you wanted to be
on the wrong side of.

When you came to the
ship to see the damage,

you're looking at a
scene that's more out of

"The Texas Chainsaw
Massacre" than anything else.

Bits of bone and blood
and brain

would be about the
sides of the ship

because these cannons
would tear people apart.

[cannons booming]

[Narrator] The
Guerriere fought back.

[cannons blasting]

Constitution's thick oak
hull was tested in battle.

[cannon blasting]

It was a key moment
in US naval history.

[Charles] Cannonballs are
ricocheting off the sides,

and a sailor sees this
happen, live-action,

and shouts out, "Huzzah!
Her sides are made of iron."

And it's a rallying cry

for all sailors that
are fighting in the war

that we have ships so strong,

they're almost as if
they're made of iron.

[hand tapping]

[Narrator] Ever since,

the Constitution has been
known as Old Ironsides.

-[dramatic music]
-[cannon blasting]

But the battle
was far from over.

[Anne] Constitution's fire was
having incredible impact,

hit the mizzen mast,
Guerriere lost the mast,

and once the two ships collide

and then the rigging pulls
down Guerriere's masts,

no more ability to maneuver.

They described her as
being "a floating log,

"a perfect wreck in the sea."

[Narrator] Guerriere's
British captain James Dacres

surrendered to the Americans.

[upbeat fiddle music]

[Anne] Constitution came back
into Boston to a hero's welcome

and then two more
American frigates

had victories following that.

So, in the fall, we were beating
Britain, queen of the seas,

something no one had ever
imagined in their lifetime.

It was a great PR and morale
boost for the young country.

[Benda] Our US Navy core values
of courage, commitment,

and honor, the ship is a
physical embodiment

of those values.

She also represents
something very important,

maritime excellence.

The ship has been in 33 Naval
engagements and is undefeated,

33 victories and zero defeats,

and something that
should be cherished

by the American
people and celebrated,

and that's why she's
still around today

and why she's visited by
over 1/2 a million visitors

each and every year,
and always will be.

[rousing dramatic music]

[Narrator] Game Changers
come in all sizes.

A century after the
Constitution's victory,

one small boat with
a large torpedo

took out a Russian battleship.

[explosion booms]

[boat engines whirring]

In the early years
of the 20th century,

motorboat racing was the hot
trend in America and Europe.

[upbeat rock music]

The need for speed
encouraged sleeker designs

and faster engines.

Soon this technology
was put to military use,

in the navies of World War I.

[guns blasting]

[Stephen] In the very early
years of the war,

the German Navy was
sending their fleets over

to bombard the English coast,

and the British really
had no response.

They couldn't get to these
fleets in time to intercept them

before they had
achieved their objective

and then retreated back across

to the German and
Belgian coasts.

So, in response to this,
three young naval officers

came up with this idea
of using the racing boats

that they'd seen
before the water,

arm them with torpedoes

so that they could go and
attack the enemy fleets

in their own harbors.

[Narrator] The British
Admiralty liked the plan.

In August 1916, six
Coastal Motor Boats,

or CMBs were delivered
to the Royal Navy.

This is the most
famous of all, CMB-4.

[tense rousing music]

[boat engines whirring]

The CMB was powered

by a lightweight internal
combustion engine

and was able to reach
speeds of 35 knots.

Almost 10 knots faster
than any navy cruiser.

This was achieved
by a revolutionary

feature called a step.

An indentation in the hull,

that caused the bow of the boat

to lift out of the
water as it moved.

[suspenseful music]

As the lightweight
boat rose up,

there was much less friction
between the bottom of the boat

and the water, and
so greater speed.

CMBs had a crew of three,
two officers, and a mechanic,

and were armed with
a Lewis machine gun

and a single 16-foot
Whitehead torpedo.

[Stephen] And they carried
a small explosive

warhead charge at
the front of them,

which, if it hit the underwater
part of a ship's hull,

could do tremendous damage.

And usually, one
torpedo was enough

to sink your average warship.

It was fired with a ram,
which had an explosive charge.

And it was like
a one-inch punch,

it sort of nudged the torpedo

and sent it sliding out
the back of the boat.

[Narrator] Firing the
torpedo was dangerous.

The CMB's speed was roughly
the same as the torpedo.

so it had to turn
swiftly out of the way

to avoid being sunk
by its own weapon.

The Coastal Motor Boat
really was a game-changer.

This was the perfect fusion

of three important
aspects of design.

The small, lightweight
internal combustion engine,

the fast hydroplane hull

skimming across the
surface of the water,

and the powerful
game-changing torpedo weapon.

[boat engines whirring]

[Narrator] The CMBs
formed the Royal Navy's

first flotilla of
small attack craft

which, after the war, came to
be known as Coastal Forces.

They had their first
success in 1917

when they sank a
German destroyer in

the English channel.

A year later, they
laid vital smokescreens

during an attack on a heavily
defended German naval base.

But the CMB's greatest
moment was still to come.

[downbeat pensive music]

After the Armistice
in November 1918,

Britain went to
war against the new

Bolshevik government in Russia,

backing the Tsarist
White Russian cause.

[Stephen] They used
secret agents

operating out of
St. Petersburg

to try and help understand
what was happening

behind the Red Army's lines.

[Narrator] The
game-changing CMBs

were perfect for
dropping spies.

They could skim over
the many minefields

the Bolsheviks had laid in the
approach to St. Petersburg.

[tense thoughtful music]

The Royal Navy loaned
CMB-4 and CMB-7

to the British Secret Service.

In May 1919, the Secret Service
set up a base at Terrioki,

in neutral Finland,

just three miles from
the Russian border.

From there, the CMBs repeatedly
sped into St. Petersburg,

successfully dropping off
and collecting agents.

The officer in charge

was 29-year-old
Lieutenant Augustus Agar.

[Rodney] Well, he was a
very resolute man.

He was a professional.

He had joined the
Navy at the age of 15

and he served all
over the world.

He was a professional at sea
during the whole of the war.

And obviously, quite
daredevil and charismatic.

[dramatic music]

[Narrator] In early June 1919,

the nearby Russian
fortress of Krasnaya Gorka

rebelled against
the Bolsheviks.

Red Army warships arrived and
used their formidable guns

to bombard the rebels
into submission.

[guns blasting]

Agar vowed to intervene.

[guns blasting]

[Rodney] And he thought, and
was told by his informants,

that if that could be stopped

and if the fort remained
in White Russian hands,

other forts or towns
would follow suit.

[Narrator] The most lethal ship

was the Russian heavy
gun cruiser, Oleg.

Armed with 12-inch guns
and 12 11-pounders.

[guns blasting]

Oleg was protected by
minefields

and a shield of destroyers.

Agar believed that his
two CMBs could sink it.

He wrote.

[Augustus] Surely
they could provide,

like a couple of hornets,

the very sting to drive away
those Red bombarding ships

and help the fortress hold out.

[Narrator] But the
plan soon went wrong.

CMB-7 broke her
propeller shaft.

Agar and the crew of CMB-4
would have to go it alone,

with just one shot at the Oleg.

On the night of June 17th,

they set sail for
the Bolshevik fleet.

[Rodney] The weather
was apparently

a force three or four,

quite nasty enough for a
small boat doing 30 knots.

He had to go over minefields
which were dangerous

because they were
always breaking loose.

It was a very hazardous trip

because if you'd broken down
or anything happened to him

there was nobody to rescue him.

They would have been
picked up and shot.

[Narrator] Agar and his
crew moved in for the kill.

He wrote.

[Augustus] Throwing all
caution to the winds,

I put on all speed and
headed straight for the Oleg,

which was now clearly visible.

[Narrator] At a
range of 500 yards,

Agar launched the torpedo.

[dramatic music]

[torpedo blasts]

Holed below the waterline,
the Oleg sank in minutes.

Under fire from the Russians,
Agar sped back to base.

[suspenseful music]

The Bolsheviks
refused to believe

that one of their
finest vessels

could be sunk by
such a small boat.

By all accounts, they
wouldn't accept the fact

it was done by the CMB,

They put out that it was
attacked by submarine.

[Narrator] The British top
brass immediately recognized

that the crew of CMB-4 had
achieved something special.

[Rodney] According to his
diary,

they were given
a hot tot of rum

and they all went to sleep.

An agent arrived and they were
all hauled out of their bunks

and told to appear somewhere.

And that photograph was taken
a few hours after the attack.

I think he still had
his pajama trousers on.

[Narrator] Agar was awarded

the Victoria Cross
for his bravery.

The legacy of the CMB

lived on in the
powerful motor gunboats

and motor torpedo boats
of the Second World War.

[majestic music]

The First World War introduced
another game-changer.

It revolutionized
naval warfare,

taking aircraft to the enemy.

[water splashing]

[tense music]

In the First World War,

the Allied powers
faced a new threat,

attack from the air
from a silent killer,

the German Zeppelin.

At 11,000 feet, they
turned off their engines

and dropped their deadly
payload of two tons of bombs.

Zeppelins were quite a
modest physical threat

to the majority of
the British public,

but they were a huge
psychological threat,

a change in the very
nature of warfare.

[Narrator] Suddenly,
death came from above.

Zeppelins seemed invincible,

too high for most aircraft
of the Royal Flying Corps,

and too hard for anti-aircraft
gunners to spot at night.

Fighter plane bullets pierced
the Zeppelin's hydrogen bags

but didn't blow them up.

The British Royal Navy
solved the problem.

This is the revolutionary
Seaplane Lighter,

the world's oldest
aircraft-carrying vessel.

[thoughtful dramatic music]

The Lighter was a
towable platform,

originally designed to carry
flying boats out to sea

to increase their range.

[Stephen] They could actually
fit a seaplane

within a hollow
section of the hull

and they could be towed
behind Royal Navy destroyers.

Then they would
stop in the water.

The seaplane would be launched

off of the back of
a seaplane lighter

and would then take off from
the water in the normal way.

[Narrator] Seaplanes
couldn't fly high enough

to attack Zeppelins.

But the British soon
saw that the Lighter

had the potential
to be much more.

It wasn't long before the
Admiralty began to realize

that if you could tow
this craft 20 knots plus,

and maybe with a
flight deck on it,

or a flying off deck, as
they called it at the time,

with a fighter aircraft on it,

into a 15 to 20-knot
sea breeze,

you would get a
cross-deck wind speed

of about 40 to 45 knots.

That made them think
it was possible perhaps

to kite launch from the deck,
being towed at full speed.

[suspenseful music]

[Narrator] They chose a new
fighter, the Sopwith Camel.

It was small, strong,
and unlike seaplanes,

could reach Zeppelin altitudes.

And by 1918, it was equipped
with incendiary ammunition

capable of blowing up a
Zeppelin's hydrogen bags.

[airplane engine whirring]

[guns blasting]

On land, its range of 200 miles

was not enough to
intercept Zeppelins

before they reached Britain.

By then it was too late.

But towed out to sea
on a Seaplane Lighter,

it could change everything.

It worked on paper.

On water, reality kicked in.

The first Seaplane
Lighter had a flat deck.

As it picked up
speed, the front rose.

This meant the plane
lifted too early

and immediately stalled.

The designers then
raised the rear,

so, as the Lighter
sped through the water,

the deck had a downward slope.

The pilot was able to retain
control as he lifted off.

-[dramatic music]
-[waves splashing]

[Dave] There were no
computer programs.

There were no software packages

to calculate what
was gonna happen.

They just had to build
a lighter,

build a deck and try it

[Narrator] In July 1918,
Lieutenant Stuart Culley,

an American-born pilot with
the Royal Naval Air Service,

successfully launched
his Sopwith Camel

from a Seaplane Lighter
for the first time.

The modern aircraft
carrier was born.

[gentle pensive music]

[bell clanging]

Just a few weeks
later, on August 11th,

Culley and his Camel
were being towed

by the destroyer HMS Redoubt,

part of a Royal Navy force

out in the North Sea
looking for Zeppelins.

At 8:24 in the morning,

they spotted Zeppelin
L-53 heading for them.

[Dave] Is it going to
attack Great Britain?

They don't know.

Is it going to report
their position?

They don't know.

So they need to
stop that Zeppelin.

Culley's very keen to get
airborne in his Camel.

-[dramatic music]
-[airplane engine whirring]

[Narrator] Getting airborne
is just the first part,

it would take almost an hour

to climb to the
Zeppelin's altitude.

If the Germans realize
that Culley is coming,

even a slow-moving Zeppelin
will have plenty of time

to get out of range.

The Seaplane Lighter had
a trick up its sleeve.

The Navy painted an outline
of a plane on its deck

to fool the Germans
into thinking

that it hadn't taken off yet.

There are some indications

that possibly this is what
fooled the crew of L53,

and that they loitered
too long in the area.

[Narrator] Finally,
at 19,000 feet,

the young American opened fire.

[guns blasting]

Bright flash was
seen in the sky,

and then clouds of debris

started to fall down
to the sea.

Culley had made
his attack exactly

as the Zeppelin was
making a signal to base,

successfully engaging
it and destroying it.

[majestic music]

[Narrator] Stuart Culley
was awarded

the Distinguished Service
Order for his bravery.

There were no more
Zeppelin raids on Britain

after his daring attack.

The exploits of Culley
and other pilots

showed the effectiveness of
taking planes out to sea.

Within a decade, massive
aircraft carriers

were built across the world.

The Seaplane Lighter
was a turning point,

proof that aircraft go out to
sea, and take on the enemy.

-[guns blasting]
-[ominous music]

Sometimes to win a war you
don't need massive guns

or an impressive fleet,
you need a game-changing,

mass-produced vessel, that's
still able to defend itself.

[guns blasting]

-[tense music]
-[waves splashing]

December 28th, 1944.

A convoy code-named
Uncle Plus 13

was sailing from Seattle
to the Philippines.

At the heart of the convoy

was the merchant ship
the SS John Burke.

She had a crew of 68 and
a cargo of ammunition

and explosives for the
fight against the Japanese.

The John Burke was
known as a Liberty ship.

[Eric] Liberty ships carrying
absolutely everything.

They were the backbone

of the mercantile
marine of the Allies,

and sometimes that
included explosives.

And if you're carrying
10,000 tons of explosives,

you're a floating bomb.

[airplane engines whirring]

[Narrator] At about 8:15 a.m.,

three kamikazes
appeared on the horizon.

One plane was hit but the
pilot locked on target.

The SS John Burke
disintegrated.

[explosion booming]

All 68 of her crew were lost.

The shockwave was so strong
other ships in the convoy

thought they'd been
hit by a torpedo.

The SS John Burke was one
of over 200 Liberty ships

lost in World War II.

They are the unsung
heroes of the conflict.

True game-changers.

No Allied amphibious
assault or land campaign

would have been
possible without them.

Only a few Liberty
ships survive today.

One is moored in Baltimore,
the mighty John W. Brown.

[upbeat country-blues music]

The Liberty ships were a
response to an emergency.

[Eric] Merchant shipping
suffered quite serious losses

in the early part of the war.

The British were worried

that they were losing more
than they could afford.

And it seemed that building
ships in the United States

was an obvious way forward.

And production really took off.

[Mike] America was termed the
arsenal of democracy

in World War II because
most of the war material

was being produced
in this country.

And the urgent requirement
was to get that material

from the shores of this country

to wherever it was
needed in the world.

[Narrator] A Liberty
ship could carry

almost 9,000 tons of cargo,

[train horn toots]

about the same as
300 railroad boxcars.

They were built at
remarkable speed,

assembled in
prefabricated sections.

Revolutionary for the time.

[Mike] And the size of
these prefabricated

or modular sections

was only limited by
the size of the cranes

that the shipyard had
available to lift them

and put them on
the building ways,

attach them to the
rest of the ship.

[Narrator] The Liberty
ships helped bring about

a construction revolution,
and a social one.

[Mike] You don't think of the
shipbuilding industry

as an industry that
will attract women,

but by the end of the war,

about 15% of the
workforce in the shipyards

set up by the Maritime
Commission were women.

And an awful lot of
the welders were women.

[tense music]

[Narrator] Once at sea,

slow-moving Liberty ships
were vulnerable to attack.

But they were not defenseless.

They were crewed by
a branch of the Navy

known as the Armed Guard.

[gun blasting]

One the key weapons at their
disposal was the Oerlikon.

[Bob] The Oerlikon 20
millimeter automatic cannon,

and I say cannon
because this fire's

an exploding projectile.

That's why it's not
called a machine gun.

This projectile will cause

a two-foot diameter
hole in any aircraft.

[Narrator] It was so
successful that both sides,

the Allies and the Axis,

equipped their ships
with this cannon.

The gun is very flexible.

It moves fast, and it is
good for surface targets

and aerial targets.

[guns blasting]

The projectiles would be in
a 60-round drum magazine,

which is easily detachable.

[metal clunking]

But a rate of fire is about
six rounds per second.

So that's about as fast as
you can blink your eyes.

You have to strap into the gun

and become one with it,

and then you use the kickers
to move and traverse the gun.

[gentle music]

[Narrator] One
Liberty ship proved

just how effective
its guns could be

face to face with the enemy.

On September 27th, 1942,

the SS Stephen Hopkins was
off the coast of South America

on her maiden voyage,

when it spotted what looked
like two German merchant ships,

but one, the Stier,
had a deadly secret.

It was a commerce raider.

[Eric] The Germans used
disguised merchant ships

as commerce raiders.

They armed them
with six-inch guns

and they prowl the seas
trying to capture ships.

They would put the flag
up at the last minute

and unfold the guns

and they would capture the
ships and make prizes of them.

[Narrator] But the crew
of the Stephen Hopkins

had no intention of
being anyone's prize.

[dramatic music]

The Armed Guard turned
their four-inch gun

on the German ships,

successfully hitting
them below the waterline.

The Germans didn't
expect a merchant ship

to offer much resistance.

It must've been
extremely surprised.

And I suspect that's one reason

that the Liberty ship was
able to score so many hits.

[explosion blasts]

[Narrator] It was
a bloody encounter.

Many of the Armed
Guard were killed.

But as men fell, others
took their place.

For 30 minutes the
ships slugged it out.

Soon, both the Stier
and the Liberty Ship

were on fire and sinking.

Stephen Hopkins was
mortally wounded

and that ship would sink,

but Stier was also mortally
wounded and, and sunk.

[Narrator] The
slow-moving Liberty ship,

built to carry cargo,
not fight, won the day.

[Bob] It's one of the most
phenomenal naval events

that occurred in World War II.

[Narrator] Only 19 of the
crew of the Stephen Hopkins

survived the encounter.

But they could boast theirs

was the only Liberty Ship
to sink a German warship.

Game changers have won battles

and shown their quality,

often at great cost.

[explosion booms]

A sacrifice that should
always be remembered.