All language subtitles for Combat Ships - S03E06 - Top Guns WEBDL-1080p x265 EAC3 5.1 [EN] [EN] MrPanda_track3_[eng]

-[explosion booms]
-[suspenseful music]

[narrator] This time
on "Combat Ships,"

the weapons that
transformed naval warfare.

From the first
armed combat ships.

[Fred] It carried a number
of heavy pieces.

Ship smashers.

Guns that could shoot
a ball big enough

to go through an enemy hull.

[narrator] To the powerful
guns of mighty modern warships.

A navy five-inch gun can
fire extraordinarily rapidly.

It's not quite a machine gun,

but it sure seems like
that to the recipients.

[suspenseful music]

[narrator] Deadly
innovations born in conflict.

[Vincent] How do you sink a
ship that's under the water?

Well, you have to deliver
the bomb down to the ship.

[narrator] And cold war missiles
with unimaginable power.

[suspenseful music]

[Jessica] This is a
two-megaton weapon.

It's about a hundred
times more powerful

than the atomic bombs
dropped on Japan

-at the end of the war.
-[suspenseful music]

[narrator] The
evolution of naval guns.

Firing faster,

firing farther,

and finding the target.

[dramatic music]

[suspenseful music]

Combat ships.

Fast. Effective.

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

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

The Marines have always
thought of themselves

as the spear point of
United States military power.

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

get it over with in a hurry.

[suspenseful music]

[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.

[suspenseful music]

[narrator] Thanks
to clever design,

-raw firepower,
-[explosion booms]

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.

[suspenseful music]

-[artillery booming]
-[dramatic music]

[suspenseful music]

[narrator] In the early
days of naval warfare,

it was the fighting
men that mattered.

Naval battles, to begin with,
were essentially a land battle

where you brought the
battlefield with you.

[suspenseful music]

That you fought with soldiers,

armed with conventional
land weapons,

that met and then
fought hand to hand.

[narrator] The arrival of
gunpowder in the Middle Ages

changed sea battles forever.

-Swords could kill,
-[dramatic music]

but cannons could sink a ship.

And there's a tremendous
shift from ships

on which small guns are
part of the armament

through to an era when ships
become floating gun batteries,

designed to do as much damage
to the enemy as possible.

And, indeed, sink them.

[suspenseful music]

[narrator] The wreck of one
of the first vessels armed

with cannons was raised
from the shallow waters

off England's South
Coast in 1982.

The warship Mary Rose.

[dramatic rock music]

Mary Rose was built
by King Henry VIII,

who saw that naval
guns were the future.

[Fred] We often point to it as
one of the earliest examples

of what we could call a
modern cannon-armed warship.

It carried a number
of heavy pieces.

Ship smashers.

Guns that could shoot
a ball big enough

to go through an enemy hull.

[dramatic rock music]

[narrator] But heavy
guns posed a problem.

Put them on the top deck
and the ship capsizes.

In the 16th century,
the French solved it.

[intense rock music]

With an opening in the ship's
side under a hinged cover,

known as a gunport.

Guns were lower.

Capsizing was harder.

In 1536, Mary Rose
copied the hot trend.

The British cut
gunports into her hull

and gave her a deadly
selection of guns.

Henry VIII went to town.

[intense rock music]

[Stephen] There were
14 different types

of gun on the Mary Rose.

And these varied, not only in
size, but in the material,

in that some were bronze
and some were iron.

And also in the size
and weight of the shot.

[suspenseful music]

[narrator] Mary Rose's
guns were made in two ways.

Either crude iron guns
forged by blacksmiths

or more advanced bronze guns,

cast in one piece.

[intense rock music]

Up to three tons of molten
metal were poured into molds,

creating a solid metal cannon.

[intense rock music]

These state-of-the-art
weapons came in varying sizes.

The biggest were large
ship-smashing cannons

that could fire
a 70-pound shot.

[intense rock music]

Mary Rose also had
smaller, long-barreled guns

called culverins that
could fire cannon balls

over 450 yards.

[intense rock music]

[dramatic music]

In July, 1545,

Mary Rose got a chance to test
her new weapons in combat.

[dramatic music]

[Stephen] In 1545, Henry VIII
was at war with France

and the French Navy
was threatening England

with an invasion.

So the English fleet was
gathered at Portsmouth.

[dramatic music]

When the French sailed
into the Solent,

Henry and his admirals decided

that the best thing to
do would be to come out

-to confront them.
-[dramatic music]

[narrator] On the
morning of July 19th,

Henry VIII watched
the battle unfold

from the ramparts
of Southsea Castle

as the flagship, Mary Rose,

led the fleet toward
the French.

-She opened fire.
-[dramatic music]

-Then, disaster struck.
-[dramatic music]

[Alexzandra] The best
eyewitness account says

that she'd fired guns
from the starboard side

and was turning to bring
the other guns to bear

when she turned too steeply

and water entered
through the gunports

on the side of the ship of
the guns she'd just fired.

She heeled over too much.

Water entered through
the open ports.

[suspenseful music]

[narrator] The very thing
that made her

a modern combat ship
was her undoing.

The portholes for her new guns.

With water pouring in, Henry's
precious Mary Rose sank.

When the ship was found,
the gun ports were still open,

the gun muzzles
embedded in the silt.

[suspenseful music]

The Mary Rose was a game
changer, but wasn't the future.

[suspenseful music]

For one thing, she had
too many types of guns.

[suspenseful music]

[Stephen] Having many different
guns does complicate matters

because, of course,
you have to keep

14 different types of shot.

So you need alert master gunners

who store the right
type of munitions

in the right places
on the ship.

[suspenseful music]

[narrator] Navies across
Europe realize standardization

-was the key.
-[suspenseful music]

The Swedes were pioneers.

[Alexzandra] Vasa, for example,

would have that 80 years later

with all of her 24 pounders
on two decks being the same.

The carriage is the same.
Everything's the same.

Shot's the same.

You know, that is
standardization to perfection.

And that's obviously
gonna be easier.

[suspenseful music]

[Fred] Instead of having
different classes of guns

for long distance
and close combat,

you eventually
settled on a hybrid gun

that was effective at both
distance and closer quarters.

In Vasa's case,

the idea was that all the
guns should be the same size

and take the same ammunition.

They're all cast to
the same pattern.

You know when you go
down to the shot locker

that every single cannon
ball in the shot locker

will fit every single
gun on the ship.

Makes it much more efficient
for supplying the guns,

helps to increase
your rate of fire,

reduce confusion,

jams, that sort of
thing in battle.

[suspenseful music]

[narrator] These cannons
were so effective

that, for the next 200 years,

naval gun design
hardly changed.

[suspenseful music]

Then, in the late 19th century,

there was a revolution
and guns got really big.

[suspenseful music]

[upbeat rock music]

In the early 1800s,

the biggest, most
powerful combat ships

were the huge wooden
ships of the line,

which could carry over
100 broadside firing cannons.

But by the mid-19th century,
warships began to change.

They replaced their
sail with steam engines.

Wooden hulls became steel.

[upbeat rock music]

And guns got bigger.

-[upbeat rock music]
-[artillery booms]

[Stephen] By the later
19th century,

there's a sort of
technological race

in which ships are attempting
to be designed to be armored

so they couldn't be sunk
by the existing technology.

So there's a constant pressure

to make guns bigger,

faster to use, easier to aim,

and indeed able to have
much greater ranges.

[upbeat rock music]

[narrator] Rotating
gun turrets came next.

They protected their crews
and had a wide arc of fire.

[Stephen] From the 1850s,
1860s onwards,

turrets began to take over

as the main housing
for naval armaments.

So rather than have

100 slightly smaller
guns firing broadside,

you would have perhaps two
to four guns in each turret.

And you could direct turrets
in different directions.

[upbeat rock music]

[narrator] In just 50 years,

combat ships went from this,

[upbeat rock music]

firing 32-pound cannon balls
at an enemy a mile away.

-To this...
-[dramatic music]

...firing shells weighing
a thousand pounds or more

over ten miles.

[Duncan] In simple terms, these
were quite horrific weapons

to be on the wrong end of.

Take a British
15-inch caliber gun.

It fired a shell that was just
under 2,000 pounds in weight.

It would arrive with such force

that it could penetrate
many inches of armor,

causing huge shock damage as
it passed through its target.

And then as it exploded
deep inside the ship,

would cause catastrophic damage.

[suspenseful music]

[narrator] Despite
the awesome firepower

gun turrets unleashed,

combat ships were
still vulnerable.

[suspenseful music]

Especially against a new enemy

that hid beneath the waves.

-The submarine.
-[suspenseful music]

[Duncan]
The problem with submarines

is that they are invisible.

It's very difficult

to prove there aren't
submarines around you,

but it's very easy for
a submarine to prove

that it is there by sinking you.

[suspenseful music]

[narrator] Early in World War I,

anti-submarine tactics
depended mostly on luck.

You could try to ram them

or tow explosives behind you

and hope you hit the target.

-[explosion booms]
-[suspenseful music]

Surface ships needed
something more reliable.

In 1916, a new naval
weapon appeared.

-The depth charge.
-[suspenseful music]

-[explosions booming]
-[intense rock music]

[Vincent] How do you sink a
ship that's under the water?

Well, you have to deliver
the bomb down to the ship.

[intense rock music]

[narrator] The first depth
charge was a 300-pound canister

packed with TNT.

[intense rock music]

Fired from a launcher

or rolled off the
back of the ship.

A pressure fuse was set to
go off at a certain depth.

[explosion booms]

[Craig] This is not
precision ordinance.

You drop it.
It's preset for a depth.

If the submarine was on the
surface fairly recently,

you might set it for 50 feet.

If it had been down for a while,

you might set it for 100

because it would've
tried to dive further.

[Stephen] The theory behind
the depth charge

is essentially that of
fishing with a hand grenade.

An explosive is
thrown into the water.

It destroys or stuns
what's in there.

And you know that
you've had success

by what floats to the surface.

[intense rock music]

[narrator] Depth charges had
a kill radius of 15 feet.

[intense rock music]

But even from further away,

-they were still effective.
-[suspenseful music]

[Craig]
Submarines are fairly fragile.

If you could get pretty
close with a depth charge,

-you could take it out.
-[suspenseful music]

[narrator] The pressure waves

from an explosion
up to 60 feet away

could significantly damage
the hull of a submarine,

potentially causing
catastrophic

leaks or implosions.

[suspenseful music]

During the First World War,

the Allies destroyed 29 German
U-boats with depth charges.

[suspenseful music]

In the Second World War,

they took out
10 times that number.

Often with the help of a new
electronic technology:

-sonar.
-[suspenseful music]

[Craig] The idea of an
echo ranging system

that would allow
them to identify

and track a submerged
submarine changed the game.

Because that meant,

if you could identify where
that submarine might be,

you could drive over that spot

and drop depth
charges on that area.

-[suspenseful music]
-[explosion booms]

[narrator] In a typical attack,

the surface vessel used sonar

to estimate the
submarine's bearing.

[sonar beeps]

[suspenseful music]

It then attempted to
cross the sub's path.

[suspenseful music]

As it did, the ship dropped
a blanket of depth charges

in a wide pattern.

[suspenseful music]

If placed correctly and
set to the right depth,

the sub would be unable to
evade the sinking bombs.

[suspenseful music]

In 1944, one U.S.
submarine was pushed

to the limit by an onslaught
of depth charges.

-The USS Tambor.
-[dramatic rock music]

In February, 1944,

the Tambor was patrolling
the South China Sea,

hunting Japanese
merchant convoys.

[dramatic rock music]

Its skipper was Lieutenant
Commander Russell Kefauver.

[dramatic rock music]

On February 3rd,

it spotted a convoy and
went in for the kill.

[dramatic rock music]

The standard attack
mode was for submarine

which was faster
than the freighters

to run an end around,
get ahead of it,

and lie in wait
for a torpedo shot

as they passed.

The Tambor had done this
and set up for its shot

and fired torpedoes,

successfully hit its target.

[explosion booms]

[narrator] But the
convoy was escorted

by a brand new
Japanese destroyer,

armed with the latest
naval weaponry,

including sonar
and depth charges.

[dramatic rock music]

[Robert] And the destroyer
immediately turned,

spotted them, and ran
straight for them.

[dramatic rock music]

[narrator] Bob Hunt was a
torpedoman onboard Tambor.

[Bob]
Boy, did she come at us!

And of course it's dive,
rig for depth charge!

So we were able to make the dive

and all of a sudden we
weren't going down anymore.

And we were about 260 feet

and obviously we
were on the bottom.

So we shut everything down for
what we call silent running.

[suspenseful music]

We were there and, of course,

that nice new destroyer
knew exactly where we were.

And boy, did he lay a strip

of about 12 depth
charges right on us.

He just hammered
us something awful.

[suspenseful music]

[narrator]
The Tambor was trapped.

If they started up the
motors and made sound,

the destroyer would ping
them with their sonar

-and have a precise location
-[sonar beeping]

for aiming their depth charges.

If they sat still,

they just were at the mercy of
the accuracy of the captain.

[narrator] What the
Tambor's crew didn't know

was that the Japanese
destroyer did not need sonar

to locate the Americans.

[explosion booms]

[Robert] Because of some
earlier depth charge damage

on the way down,
they were bleeding air.

So that seeing where
the bubbles were rising,

he was able to
pinpoint the Tambor.

And simply made pass
after pass after pass,

dropping depth charges.

[narrator] The Japanese
destroyer launched

a punishing series of attacks.

[suspenseful music]

[Craig] You can imagine the
submarine skippers

and the crews kind of
listening to the explosions,

whether they were
close or distant,

to tell them whether they
were going to live or to die.

-[siren wails]
-[suspenseful music]

[narrator] For 17 hours,

the crew of the
Tambor lay waiting

at the mercy of
the depth charges.

They took turns
repairing the boat.

[suspenseful music]

Oxygen and power
were running low.

Lieutenant Commander Kefauver
knew they couldn't hide

on the ocean floor any longer.

-They had to escape.
-[suspenseful music]

But the sub was now
stuck fast on the seabed.

All seemed to be lost.

[suspenseful music]

Then the diving
officer had an idea.

He started moving
air and water around

to the various ballast
tanks and air tanks.

They ran the propellers
forward and back,

almost like trying to
rock a car out of the mud

by going forward and
back, forward and back.

[narrator] Finally free,
Tambor anxiously headed

for the surface.

To the crew's relief,
the destroyer was gone.

[suspenseful music]

After a day-long attack
and 34 depth charges,

the Japanese were convinced
the Tambor was destroyed.

[suspenseful music]

The Americans surveyed
the damage to their sub.

[Robert] There was depth charge
shrapnel embedded

in the wooden decking.

There was a huge
crack along the hull

and there was
fuel oil escaping.

Everything was
broken on the sub.

[suspenseful music]

Few submarines survived the
kind of depth charge attack

that the Tambor survived
in the East China Sea.

34 depth charges, most of
them quite near the hull.

[gentle music]

[narrator] They had survived
one of the worst ever

depth charge attacks
on a U.S. sub.

During the Second World War,

52 American submarines
were destroyed.

Most of them with the
loss of the entire crew.

The USS Tambor came
close to joining them.

[gentle music]

-[rocket whooshing]
-[dramatic rock music]

The furious arms race
of the Second World War

pushed every weapon to
become more destructive

and the death toll ever higher.

-[dramatic rock music]
-[artillery booms]

Humanity's capacity for
destruction seemed limitless.

In Europe, Nazi
scientists and engineers

worked on a weapon that
would bring about a revolution

in naval armament.

[dramatic rock music]

The V-1 flying bomb.

[dramatic rock music]

Powered by a jet engine,

it was the first
operational cruise missile.

-[dramatic rock music]
-[jet whooshing]

V-1 was a so-called
Vengeance Weapon,

designed to terrorize
London and kill civilians.

[dramatic rock music]

It could fly 160 miles,

able to hit the capital

from launch sites
in mainland Europe.

[dramatic rock music]

Nearly 10,000 V-1 bombs were
fired at Southeast England.

[dramatic rock music]

[explosions booming]

These attacks only
stopped when Allied forces

overran the launch sites
on their way to Berlin.

[dramatic rock music]

The potential of this
brutal weapon was hard

for the Allies to ignore.

[Jessica] During the war,

the Americans had captured
examples of the V-1 missile

and built their
own versions of it.

[suspenseful music]

[narrator]
The U.S. Navy was eager

to adopt this new technology.

Ordinance revolutions in
naval warfare take place

when a new technology emerges

that can allow one combatant

to fire from a greater distance.

-[suspenseful music]
-[artillery booming]

[narrator] At the time, the
navy's most powerful guns

could hit targets
25 miles away.

A missile's potential range
was hundreds of miles.

[upbeat rock music]

They invested heavily to
develop their own version.

In 1955, it was ready.

The Regulus cruise missile.

[upbeat rock music]

Submarines were armed
with Regulus prototypes.

[suspenseful music]

[rocket whooshing]

Booster rockets
launched the missile.

Then were jettisoned as a
turbo jet engine took over.

[suspenseful music]

Although much more powerful
and with greater range,

Regulus retained some of
its World War II roots.

[Stephen] The Regulus, like the
V-1, was launched from a ramp.

And like the V-1, it was
a sort of flying bomb.

-[rocket whooshing]
-[dramatic music]

[narrator] But instead of
carrying a conventional bomb,

like the V-1, Regulus was
armed with a brand new

-and devastating technology.
-[explosion booms]

-[plane roaring]
-[dramatic music]

At the end of World War II,

the United States unleashed
the power of the atom.

[dramatic music]

[explosion booms]

Then in 1952, an even more
terrifying weapon was added

to the American arsenal.

A thermonuclear
or hydrogen bomb.

[suspenseful music]

The U.S. Navy wanted
that awesome firepower.

So Regulus, their
first cruise missile,

was armed with a
state-of-the-art

thermonuclear war head.

[Jessica] This is a
two-megaton weapon.

It's about 100 times
more powerful

than the atomic bombs
dropped on Japan

at the end of the war.

[suspenseful music]

[narrator] Regulus itself
had a range of 500 miles.

But carried on a combat ship,

it could reach targets
across the globe.

[Jessica] It could be
launched from cruisers.

It could be launched
from aircraft carriers,

but its primary role was to
be launched from submarines.

A submarine provided
a covert platform

for launching the
Regulus missile.

So it could operate
under the water,

move around, hopefully
undetected by the enemy,

and be put in position to
wherever it was needed.

[suspenseful music]

Being the first time that you
could shoot a nuclear weapon

from a submarine against
a distant land mass

was quite a significant
breakthrough.

[suspenseful music]

They gave a strike capability

that hadn't been
possessed before.

[narrator] The navy repurposed
two Second World War subs

to carry Regulus,

attaching watertight hangars
near the conning towers.

Three more
custom-built submarines

with integrated missile hangars

were launched in
the late 1950s.

-Of the five Regulus subs,
-[suspenseful music]

only one survives.

The USS Growler.

[dramatic music]

These nuclear-armed
submarines entered service

as the Cold War
began to heat up.

[suspenseful music]

They gave the U.S.
an advantage in its arms race

with the Soviet Union

and drastically changed
submarine warfare.

[suspenseful music]

[Jessica] During World War II,

submarines were primarily
armed with torpedoes

and their purpose was
to attack other ships,

right, to sink your
enemy's vessels.

Now, you have submarines

that are carrying a
very powerful weapon

aimed at strategic land targets.

[suspenseful music]

[Stephen] You could hit an
enemy on a distant continent,

cause massive casualties

and massive dislocation
to an entire state.

Not just to one army or one ship

or one enemy unit.

Missiles really changed the
nature of warfare itself.

[suspenseful music]

[narrator]
The Regulus became part

of the United States
nuclear deterrence policy.

[suspenseful music]

A threat devastating
enough to keep the Soviets

from risking an all-out war.

The Regulus missile submarines
operated out of Pearl Harbor.

[suspenseful music]

Their 70-day patrols were
carried out almost entirely
underwater.

-And in total secrecy.
-[suspenseful music]

[Jessica] The Regulus
missile submarines

were essentially covering
really one major target.

They operated off the coast

of the Kamchatka
Peninsula in Russia.

This is in the far
Western Pacific.

And this was the site of
a major Soviet naval base.

And this would have been a place

where the Soviets
would've been able

to launch attacks
across the Pacific.

So this was considered a
really significant target.

And the U.S. Navy ensured

that there were always four
Regulus missiles available,

out on patrol to be prepared
to attack that target,

should it become necessary.

[suspenseful music]

[narrator] The patrols
took the submarines

dangerously close
to Soviet shores.

[Jessica]
Regulus was manually guided

and the submarine needed
to stay in radar contact

with the missile for the
entire duration of its launch.

The missile itself had a
range of about 500 miles,

but the missile's guidance
system only had a range

of less than half that.

They just needed to stay
close enough to their target

to be able to launch it

and make sure it got
all the way there.

So even though the range of
the missile is about 500 miles,

the crew of Growler,
for instance,

was operating usually within
150 miles of the Russian coast.

And often much, much
closer than that.

[suspenseful music]

[narrator] Once in position,

the crews waited for a
command to launch a missile.

[suspenseful music]

They knew it could
come at any moment.

In October, 1962,
it nearly did.

[suspenseful music]

U.S. spy planes spotted
Soviet nuclear missiles

being installed in Cuba.

From there, they could reach

almost the entire
United States.

[suspenseful music]

President Kennedy ordered a
naval blockade of the island

and demanded the Soviets
remove the missiles

or face retaliation.

[suspenseful music]

Our resolution will call

for the prompt
dismantling and withdrawal

of all offensive
weapons in Cuba.

[suspenseful music]

Should these offensive
military preparations continue,

thus increasing the
threat to the hemisphere,

further action
will be justified.

I have directed the armed forces

to prepare for
any eventualities.

[suspenseful music]

[narrator]
The world held its breath.

If the Soviets persisted,

how would America respond?

[suspenseful music]

Below the waves, the Regulus
submarine crews were ready,

waiting for the order.

They were well drilled.

[suspenseful music]

[Jessica] The order to
launch the missile

would've come to these
submarines by radio.

So once this command comes

and the commanding
officer would get it,

would go to his safe,

open up a number of
different scenarios

and get the appropriate one

to go through the
steps of launching it

at the right target.

Crew members would
check out the missile,

make sure it's all functioning.

And they would bring the
submarine up to the surface.

Crew members would take
one of the missiles out

of the large hangars on
the front of the submarine,

pull it toward the launcher
and get it on the launcher.

And elevate the launcher
into an angled position.

They would make sure that
the missile is fueled

and ready to go.

And then it would
be ready to launch.

[suspenseful music]

[narrator] Firing the missile
would be the last thing

the crew ever did.

By coming to the surface,

the Soviets would spot them
and launch a counterstrike.

[dramatic music]

In late October, 1962,
after secret negotiations,

the Soviets agreed to remove
their missiles from Cuba.

[dramatic music]

The Regulus program
ended two years later,

replaced with the Polaris
ballistic missile,

which could be launched
from a submerged submarine.

Regulus was meant to be
a temporary solution.

A bit of a stopgap.

But it did give the navy

this capability it
never had before.

[dramatic music]

[narrator] Regulus
was a game changer.

Missile-armed combat ships
were here to stay.

[dramatic music]

[missile whooshing]

[suspenseful music]

Today, navies need to be
ready for any situation.

-From full-scale war...
-[missiles whooshing]

...to patrol missions.

-[suspenseful music]
-[missiles whooshing]

Missiles allow modern combat
ships to be versatile.

They can take out other ships,

[suspenseful music]

incoming anti-ship missiles,

[suspenseful music]

aircraft,

submarines,

-land targets,
-[suspenseful music]

and even intercept
ballistic missiles.

But they are not the
answer for all threats.

Once thought to be redundant,

naval guns are still
a vital combat weapon.

[suspenseful music]

Any amphibious invasion
still needs gunfire support,

just as they did in
World War II and Korea

when ships fired huge barrages
of shells at the coastline.

But today, they are
even more effective.

[dramatic music]

The emphasis was on
volume and size of shell.

Absolutely pounding the target

because no one shell was likely
to actually hit the target.

Whereas in the present day,

you might have a smaller shell,

but it'd be fired at
to higher velocity

and with a far
greater likelihood

of actually hitting the target.

So, therefore, you don't
need to fire as many

and you're gonna
achieve more for less.

[dramatic music]

[narrator]
They are also perfect

against small,
fast-moving threats.

Like the heavily armed
Iranian speed boats,

the U.S. Navy encounter
in the Persian Gulf.

[dramatic music]

If you've got a swarm attack
using asymmetric warfare

by small vessels coming at you

from 10, 20 different
directions simultaneously,

you need rapid fire weapons

to take those out close range.

And a navy 5-inch gun can fire
extraordinarily rapidly.

It's not quite
like a machine gun,

but it sure seems like
that to the recipients.

So, close in rapid
response gunfire

is still necessary
to protect a warship.

[guns booming]

[narrator] To provide the best
protection for their vessels,

most navies rely on
both guns and missiles

-to defend their ships.
-[suspenseful music]

Vessels like the

U.S. Navy San Antonio class
landing platform dock,

or LPD.

This is LPD 23.

-The USS Anchorage,
-[dramatic music]

The LPD is designed
for amphibious attacks.

It carries a precious cargo.

[Anna] In preparation for an
amphibious landing,

the LPD would carry 700 Marines

and we can also carry
20,000 square foot

of vehicle storage space.

And 40,000 square foot of cargo

with all of the Marines'
equipment and gear.

[intense rock music]

[narrator] LPDs also launch
amphibious landing craft,

like the LCAC hovercraft.

[intense rock music]

Aircraft, like the Osprey.

And deliver the Marines

and their heavy
machinery to shore.

[suspenseful music]

But this is the most
dangerous time for LPDs.

In an invasion, they too
are in the crosshairs.

[suspenseful music]

[Matthew] Amphibious
transport vessels,

as they're approaching
the coast

and switch towards their
function of offloading

the troops into landing
craft ahead of shore,

become the primary target
for the defending force.

Because if there is
an amphibious force

at that point, that becomes
the greatest threat.

If you defeat the amphibious
transport vessels,

you defeat the landing.

[dramatic music]

[narrator]
To defend themselves,

the San Antonio-class ships
carry a revolutionary weapon.

Rolling Airframe
Missiles or RAM.

[suspenseful music]

We have two launchers,

one forward and one aft,

that carries the RIM-116
Rolling Airframe Missile.

It's a point defense
weapon that we use

to defend the ship against
anti-ship cruise missiles.

[suspenseful music]

[narrator] The RAMs are
fired from launchers

that store 21 missiles.

Each one is fire and forget,

meaning it will
find its own target,

allowing the launcher to engage
multiple threats at once.

[suspenseful music]

The missiles travel
at supersonic speed,

delivering an eight-pound
warhead with pinpoint accuracy.

[suspenseful music]

When the ship's radar picks
up an incoming threat,

it feeds the RAM system all
the information it needs

to track it,

like bearing and altitude.

[suspenseful music]

Then the RAM launcher
springs into action.

[suspenseful music]

[Noah] Once that order's given,

the percussive caps on
each end of the canister

where the missile's
held will pop off.

Then the missile will start
to ignite, launch off.

As it's going out,

it has rails on the
inside of the canister.

They allow the missile to spin.

And once the missile spins,
it will leave off

into whatever direction
it needs to get to.

[suspenseful music]

[narrator] As the missile spins,

its tracking system
scans in all directions,

seeking out the target.

[suspenseful music]

[Noah] It will get close to
its target, detonate.

And on that detonation,
it'll actually shrapnel out.

So unlike other missiles,
RAM relies on shrapnel

to take out its target
versus the actual explosion.

[dramatic music]

[narrator] This gives the
missile a greater kill radius.

It doesn't require a direct
hit to bring down the target.

[dramatic music]

Alongside the RAM launchers

are the USS Anchorage's
more traditional guns.

The LPD also carries
a surface weapon.

The Mk 46
30-millimeter chain gun

that's used to defend
the ship against close,

fast moving small boat threats.

[suspenseful music]

[narrator] Firing
30-millimeter shells,

it's one of the smaller
guns on U.S. Navy ships.

But it's fast, firing up
to 200 rounds per minute

to a range of 4,400 yards.

[explosion booms]

[suspenseful music]

The Mk 46 30-millimeter chain
gun is operated by remote

in the combat
information center.

The operator has a screen
that shows the camera sight.

It also has a laser
range finder

and a thermal imaging camera

that the operator uses
to find its target

and then pull the trigger.

[dramatic music]

[suspenseful music]

[narrator]
The LPD's combined arsenal

of rapid-fire gun
and missile systems

give them a vital
and formidable

last line of defense.

Protecting themselves and
the troops they put ashore.

[intense rock music]

USS Anchorage is
state of the art.

But the story of naval
weaponry isn't over.

The top guns of the future

are turning science
fiction into fact.

[intense rock music]

[missile whooshes]

-[missile whooshing]
-[suspenseful music]

New weapons are judged
on how good they are

at taking out a target.

But sometimes it's all
about dollars and cents.

[suspenseful music]

Navies literally want
more bang for their buck.

[suspenseful music]

[Stephen] Naval guns and
missiles are very different

in terms of cost and technology.

So you could keep several
hundred shells in a magazine

on a ship and use them

for a multiplicity of
targets and purposes.

Whereas a missile,

if it's a modern,
complicated missile,

it's going to be
extremely expensive.

So one missile might
cost you the same

as the entire load of
shells for your deck gun.

Maybe more.

[suspenseful music]

[narrator] Guided
missiles, like the RAMs,

might be very effective,

but they come with
a hefty price tag.

[suspenseful music]

Just under a million
dollars per shot.

[suspenseful music]

A five-inch shell for a
naval gun, on the other hand,

costs a few thousand dollars.

[suspenseful music]

With the incredible
discrepancy in price,

weapons manufacturers
and navies

are looking at high-tech ways

to expand the capabilities
of traditional naval guns.

[suspenseful music]

To do it, one Italian
company went beyond the gun

to the ammunition.

The result?

The DART three-inch
guided shell.

[intense rock music]

[man speaking in Italian]

[interpreter]
The DART shell,

shot by a 76-millimeter gun,

is the only one in the world

that's capable of changing
course to intercept

and neutralize threats

that are trying to
use evasive maneuvers

to avoid being hit by
traditional ammunition.

[narrator] The DART
three-inch shell is fitted

with small wings.

[dramatic rock music]

These allow it to alter
its trajectory mid-flight.

[interpreter] The shells don't
have their own propulsion.

Instead, they get their initial
thrust when they're fired.

After that, they
fly like a glider.

All thanks to their wings.

[dramatic rock music]

[narrator] The Italian Navy
tests the DART's capabilities

against sea and air threats
in live fire training,

using a drone as a target.

[suspenseful music]

First, the ship's radar
locks onto the target.

[interpreter]
This radar signature is relayed

to the ship's gun,

which then fires
the DART shell.

The gun is equipped
with a radar antenna

that can then steer the
shell towards the target.

[suspenseful music]

Maneuvering and gradually
closing the distance

to the target until
its destruction.

[narrator] The DART
has proved itself

to be fast and accurate.

But like all shells,

its range is
limited by the power

of the charge that launches it.

But that could change.

[suspenseful music]

[intense rock music]

The U.S. Navy began
developing a weapon

with cutting-edge technology

intended for the next
generation of combat ships.

[intense rock music]

It's known as the railgun.

[intense rock music]

It works by placing a solid
shell between two rails

in the barrel of the gun,

connected to a
huge power source.

A massive electric current
is sent through the rails,

-generating a magnetic field
-[shell booms]

that propels the shell forward
at 5,600 miles per hour.

[Matthew]
The velocity of the projectile

that you'll be firing

that will be far in
excess of a naval gun

and far in excess of
many missiles as well,

which makes it incredibly
difficult to stop.

And means it has
incredible hitting power

when it reaches its
target at the other end.

[suspenseful music]

[narrator] When it
leaves the barrel,

the projectile is
traveling over seven times

-the speed of sound.
-[explosion booms]

This means it covers 115 miles
in about 90 seconds.

[suspenseful music]

As the shell hits the target,

the immense kinetic energy

of it traveling at supersonic
speeds is transferred

to the target and
obliterates it.

The railgun therefore needs

neither gunpowder, chemical
propellant, nor explosives

to destroy a threat.

Just a huge electricity source.

[suspenseful music]

[Matthew] The development
of naval weaponry

throughout the centuries

is very much
an evolutionary process.

There's the new
offensive weapon,

and then there's the new
defensive countermeasure

-to tackle it.
-[suspenseful music]

But every now and a while,

there is change that
is more revolutionary

where it transforms
the environment.

[suspenseful music]

[narrator] From cannons

to gun turrets and
nuclear missiles,

the relentless arms race on
our oceans will continue,

changing the way combat
ships look and fight.

[explosion booms]