Original subtitles

Prime Minister Winston Churchill and President Franklin Roosevelt

are navy men.

They understand that World War II will be won

by the side that controls the seas.

Early in the war, Germany dominates the Atlantic

and threatens Great Britain,

while Japan is attempting to build an empire

across the Asia-Pacific theatre.

The attack on Pearl Harbor

and Germany's declaration of war

brings America directly into the conflict,

a global struggle that will range across many seas

and many oceans.

But the US Navy has a new weapon -

the aircraft carrier - which extends its reach

and allows it to challenge an enemy thousands of miles away.

All wars change the world.

But none of them changed the world like the Second World War did.

Japan's on the march, Germany's on the march.

No one can imagine the nightmare

they're about to unleash.

The most destructive war in human history.

Suddenly, the world is turned upside down,

and all hell is let loose.

The West is stunned by the speed of the advance.

You get the Allies led by the big three -

Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin.

Men who were dealing with immensely complicated questions.

It's the biggest military operation of human history.

The Allies have to come together

not just militarily, but industrial scale -

it's a global perspective.

They have to fight in every climate

from the Arctic, to the jungles of the Pacific,

to the deserts of Africa and the depths of the ocean.

But there was no certainty of victory.

It was going to be a horrific bloodbath.

We see humans at their absolute worst,

how they treat other human beings.

And we see them at their absolute best,

willing to give their lives that others might live.

World War II was a struggle in which there could be

one victor and one vanquished.

In late 1940,

British cities are pounded from the air

by the German Luftwaffe

almost every night.

Led by Prime Minister Winston Churchill,

the people of Great Britain show no sign of surrender.

But most of the food and material

the island nation needs to survive

must be brought from abroad...

...in British ships.

And Nazi U-boats threaten every one of them.

More than two-thirds of Britain's food comes in by ship.

Over 90% of Britain's oil comes by ship.

Britain also needs raw materials.

You can't build a Lancaster bomber

or a Spitfire out of steel.

You need aluminium.

Britain has no aluminium,

so it needs to ship it all across the Atlantic.

Most of what Britain needs comes from one source -

America.

President Franklin D Roosevelt

has declared the United States an arsenal of democracy.

A lifeline is established -

American resources carried by British convoys.

But it's a perilous journey.

In 1940 alone,

over 500 British merchant ships are lost.

The Germans are able to sink three million tons of British shipping

between the summer of 1940 and the end of the year.

That's unsustainable.

If Churchill can't keep up the flow of supplies to Britain,

well, you're in existential trouble.

The man directing Germany's U-boat campaign

is Admiral Karl Doenitz,

a World War I U-boat commander himself.

Throughout the Great War,

the Germans used unrestricted submarine warfare

to attempt to choke Britain into submission.

Doenitz's mind is pure mathematics.

You sink more merchant ships than can be built...

to starve the British,

to deprive Britain of the raw materials

and the calories needed to fight the war.

In 1940, Doenitz devises a new tactic.

He groups up to 20 U-boats

and orders them to hunt British convoys.

They're called "wolfpacks".

The moment one U-boat finds a convoy,

it radios back to Doenitz.

Doenitz then looks at where all his U-boats are.

Doenitz then vectors all other U-boats

in and around those waters

onto the same target.

The wolfpack tactic requires good communication...

...good coordination.

Nobody attacks until they're all present...

...and then they pounce.

Imagine what it's like to be in a convoy under attack.

Even if your ship doesn't get hit,

you cannot stop to pick up survivors.

You hear them screaming.

You want to help them, but you cannot stop.

Because if you do,

you know a submarine is waiting to sink you.

Through 1940, the wolfpacks are so successful,

their crews refer to it as the "Happy Time".

Doenitz's plan to strangle Great Britain is working.

Attacked by sea and by air,

Britain's survival falls largely on the shoulders of one man -

Winston Churchill.

In November 1940, Churchill is told in no uncertain terms

by government officials that there are simply

not enough supplies getting into Britain.

Britain is not going to be able to continue the war.

He said it gnawed at his bowels.

He said it's the only thing that kept him up at night

in the Second World War...

was the German threat in the Atlantic.

Desperate, Prime Minister Churchill

writes to President Roosevelt.

Franklin Roosevelt had been Assistant Secretary of the Navy

during the First World War.

He understood the role of sea power.

In early December, Roosevelt sets aside

the burdens of office for a few days in the Caribbean.

And a seaplane brings a letter from Churchill.

And Churchill says, this is the most important letter

I will ever write.

Churchill is terrified.

He's coming closer to losing than he ever has.

He says, "I need help."

"I need planes, ships, guns, and money."

Roosevelt has long understood

the threat Nazi Germany poses to the United States.

But he's been constrained from offering direct aid to the British

because of Americans' anxiety

over getting involved in another world war.

Roosevelt had read Mein Kampf in German.

He understood, in a way that not many Americans did,

what Hitler was about.

But 80% or 90% of the country had no interest

in being involved in any way

in military conflict in the Old World.

FDR understands that if the United States

is to take its place as a leader of the world,

he's got to do it very, very carefully.

Roosevelt returns to Washington with a plan.

He calls it Lend-Lease.

I ask this Congress for authority and for funds

sufficient to manufacture additional munitions

and war supplies of many kinds

to be turned over to those nations

which are now in actual war

with aggressor nations.

Churchill's letter has been answered.

As he put it, if my neighbour's house is on fire,

I lend him the hose.

I don't make him pay for it.

I just ask for it back afterward.

Churchill had been thrown a lifeline.

Lend-Lease would keep Britain alive.

President Roosevelt shepherds

the Lend-Lease legislation, designated HR-1776,

through Congress.

American weapons, including tanks and planes,

are headed for Great Britain.

But these convoys will move through hazardous waters.

Spring, 1941.

American ships carrying Lend-Lease supplies to Britain

are threatened by Doenitz's wolfpacks.

Roosevelt understands the risk.

But because he knows what's at stake,

it's a risk he believes worth taking.

He writes to Prime Minister Churchill.

"I believe that the outcome of this struggle

is going to be decided in the Atlantic.

And unless Hitler can win there,

he cannot win anywhere in the world."

FDR extends the US maritime security zone

to 26 degrees west.

A significant part of the Atlantic

is now patrolled by the US Navy.

He takes over more than half of the Atlantic

and turns it into an American lake.

Roosevelt is now saying,

we will attack anyone who goes to war in those areas,

knowing the only people who are going to make attacks

in that area is the Germans in submarines.

As American and British interests align,

President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill

agree to a summit to discuss strategy...

...not just for the battle in the Atlantic,

but for the whole war.

They will meet in a bay just off Newfoundland

on the eastern edge of Canada.

Roosevelt tells the Washington press

that he's taking a vacation on the presidential yacht,

the Potomac.

But once at sea, he transfers to the heavy cruiser Augusta

and sets sail to meet Churchill.

And events were conspiring to bring them on stage

at the same hour at a cataclysmic moment.

Roosevelt wanted Churchill as close as possible.

Churchill travels to meet Roosevelt

on the battleship HMS Prince of Wales,

escorted by Royal Navy destroyers.

But summer storms prevent the escorts

from staying with the Prime Minister's ship.

Alone, the HMS Prince of Wales

travels through U-boat-menaced waters...

...the same journey that British ships

continue to make every day.

On August 9th,

the President and the Prime Minister meet.

It's a deeply emotional and powerful moment

because it's their first meeting

as the leaders of their respective countries.

Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill

were very similar men in many ways.

They both believed that they were destined to play

a great role in the lives of their nations and of the world.

It was very important to FDR

to stand when he met Churchill.

Because of the polio,

this was a pure effort of will.

He did not want to be seated

in front of men who were fighting.

You can see the beginnings

of what would become

arguably the most important political friendship

in history, in those first moments.

Churchill's boyishly happy

and is so excited that the President

of the United States is receiving him.

It's also important to remember the intimacy

of being together at sea, in the vast ocean,

where they're looking each other in the eye.

They want to get along.

They want to please the other.

The two leaders also want to map a way forward for the world.

They produce the Atlantic Charter,

with joint war aims and a blueprint to prevent another world war.

They knew that history had mysteriously

but unmistakably cast them in this drama.

And it was a reminder,

an emotional reminder...

...of what was at stake.

When Churchill departs for home,

FDR sends two American warships

to accompany him as far as Iceland.

In fall 1941, Roosevelt orders the US Navy

to escort British convoys halfway across the Atlantic.

It puts US forces now very close to Europe.

Everything about that is a way to be more aggressive to Germany.

On September 4, 1941,

the USS Greer is attacked by a German U-boat.

The Greer strikes back.

Roosevelt responds with a shoot on sight order.

I tell you the blunt fact

that the German submarine fired first

upon this American destroyer Greer

with deliberate design to sink us.

What we are seeing are

tensions ratcheting up in the Atlantic,

an undeclared war almost certainly at some point

going to turn into a shooting one.

On October 17th, the USS Kearny

is damaged by a torpedo from a German U-boat.

11 sailors are killed.

Two weeks later,

the USS Reuben James is torpedoed and sunk.

115 sailors are killed.

Roosevelt again condemns German barbarism,

German brutality. "How can they do this?"

But Roosevelt doesn't declare war.

He realises this isn't quite enough

to base an entry into the Second World War.

At the end of 1941,

preserving Great Britain's Atlantic lifeline

is FDR's chief naval concern.

But in the Pacific...

a different threat is about to launch.

December 7, 1941.

Six Japanese aircraft carriers

with over 300 dive bombers and torpedo planes

approach America's largest naval base in the Pacific.

We interrupt this broadcast

to bring you this important bulletin from the United Press.

Flash, Washington.

The White House announces Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

What is the country that finally attacks America on American soil?

It's Japan.

Messages from Tokyo say that

Japan has announced a formal declaration of war

against both the United States and Britain.

Churchill learns about Pearl Harbor from the BBC.

He hears the broadcast announcing this.

He calls FDR.

FDR says, "It's true.

We're all in the same boat now."

Four days later,

Germany declares war on the United States.

America will fight a war across both the Atlantic

and Pacific oceans.

And FDR is now a wartime president.

Roosevelt comes under a great pressure.

He really finds the first few months of 1942

probably the most difficult in the war.

And if you're Roosevelt, everyone's yelling at you.

The British are yelling at you to convoy in the North Atlantic.

The navy's yelling at you for more resources to go to the Pacific.

To fight the war in the Pacific,

FDR appoints Admiral Chester Nimitz

as the new Commander-in-Chief Pacific, CINCPAC.

Nimitz arrives to assume command of the Pacific fleet

while Pearl Harbor is still a burning mess.

It just stinks of death and fire and destruction.

Nimitz takes command of a weakened Pacific Fleet.

Most American battleships are destroyed

or damaged at Pearl Harbor.

But its aircraft carriers were at sea

and escaped the attack.

Nimitz is relying on admirals like William "Bull" Halsey

to press the fight against the Japanese.

He sees that American naval strategy

based on the battleship is all gone.

But we still have aircraft carriers and we still have submarines.

Chester Nimitz understands,

OK, out with the old, in with the new.

Nimitz adjusts American naval strategy

to rely on aircraft carriers and a series of raids.

Because those aircraft carriers are available,

he does have a tool to punch back at Japan.

The Imperial Japanese Navy

is well-trained and well-equipped.

They dominate and control the western half of the Pacific.

April 1942.

Four months after Pearl Harbor,

Admiral Nimitz is eager to go on the offensive.

But where?

The navy's top cryptanalyst, Commander Joseph Rochefort,

and his team decode signals

that reveal the Japanese navy's plans.

The intelligence that Rochefort

is bringing to Nimitz is not necessarily all that clear cut.

But the picture that is developing

is one of continued Japanese interest in the South Pacific.

Rochefort believes the Japanese are going

to invade southern New Guinea.

From there, they could block the sea lanes

that connect the United States and Australia...

and possibly strike Australia...

...which is the key to the American strategy in the South Pacific.

The Japanese would control everything from Japan to Australia,

that entire linkage to the Indian Ocean,

and, oh, by the way, a principal ally

in the southern part of the hemisphere.

Nimitz dispatches two aircraft carriers -

the Lexington and the Yorktown -

to intercept the Japanese force.

They are the only two carriers available.

His basic game plan is to cruise in the Coral Sea

and wait for the Japanese moves

and deliver an attack against the Japanese.

It's hard sometimes to remember,

because we have satellites that illuminate the whole world

in real time,

that for most of military history,

the fog of war is huge.

And at sea, it's an even bigger deal.

Trying to find your enemy is half the battle.

A large fleet can become almost invisible.

And then once you find it,

you have to hit them before they find you.

Rochefort's intelligence is correct.

American reconnaissance aircraft

spot the Japanese fleet in the Coral Sea.

Both American carriers launch their plans.

This attack is really the first sign

that what we have here is what's called an "RMA" nowadays,

a Revolution in Military Affairs.

The two fleets are more than 100 miles apart.

They're attacking with aircraft from far away.

They're not exchanging salvos from big guns.

The Americans had never done anything like that

with aircraft carriers before.

American dive bombers strike first,

finding the Japanese carrier Shoho.

She's hit and sinks in less than an hour.

Shoho is the first Japanese carrier

that's going to be sunk during this war.

When you throw a punch in boxing,

you open yourself up to a counterpunch.

So your choices are "don't fight"

or "fight and open yourself up to a devastating blow".

The United States Navy has struck first.

But now Nimitz's force faces the Japanese counterattack.

The US Navy sinks their first

Japanese aircraft carrier in the Coral Sea.

But the next day, Japanese planes

locate and target the USS Lexington,

America's oldest carrier, nicknamed "Lady Lex".

She takes four direct hits.

She's still seaworthy,

but a gas line ignites and she catches fire.

She burns to the waterline...

...and is scuttled to avoid capture.

To protect their remaining carriers,

the Japanese call off the invasion.

The Battle of the Coral Sea

is the first time that the United States

has turned back a Japanese offensive.

From Nimitz's standpoint,

he's learned to trust his intel officers.

He's also learned that the carriers are going to be the way to go.

Even though this is kind of the Wild West

of naval combat at this point, carriers are effective.

They can sink enemy warships.

Fearing a long war with America,

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the architect of Pearl Harbor,

is always seeking a knockout blow against the US Navy.

So he says, I need to destroy these American carriers.

But how do I do it?

And so they cook up this plan, the Japanese naval staff,

is that they'll attack a vital American place.

And they decide Midway Island, so called because it's midway

between the West Coast of the United States and China.

It is American territory.

It's something the Americans value.

That might be enough to lure

the Americans out to defend that territory.

And if they do, then we can annihilate their carriers

and have a free hand in the Pacific.

Yamamoto's plan is to launch a surprise attack on Midway

with four of his carriers.

The Japanese will take the strategic island

and believe Midway will then radio Pearl Harbor for help,

prompting Nimitz to send his carriers to defend the island.

Once the American carriers get to Midway,

Yamamoto will appear with the rest of his fleet.

He will trap them in jaws of iron,

crush them, and destroy not only the American carriers,

but also their battleships,

at which point the Americans will have no naval forces

of any worth left in the Pacific.

This could be a decisive strike

against the US Naval forces in the Pacific.

In late May,

the Japanese task force head to Midway Island.

There are 250 aircraft on its carriers.

But cryptanalyst Joseph Rochefort, once again,

has intercepted the Japanese coded signals.

Rochefort believes Japan

is sending its fleet to attack Midway.

The problem is the Japanese

aren't referring to Midway Island as Midway Island.

They're saying, "AF".

"We're going to attack AF."

Rochefort has a plan to reveal the identity of "AF".

Midway sends false radio messages

on a channel the Japanese monitor,

suggesting there's a problem on the island.

Midway is going to radio back in the clear

that, hey, our desalinisation plant has just broken,

and we're running out of fresh water.

And then they wait and listen.

And shortly thereafter, a Japanese radio station

will send another message back to the Japanese fleet

that AF has just run out of fresh water.

And now, for the first time, they know it's Midway.

Nimitz dispatches his three remaining aircraft carriers

and a supporting fleet towards Midway.

The US Navy is lying in wait

to intercept the Japanese attack on Midway...

...if they can locate the Japanese carriers.

This is the first time many young pilots

will go into battle.

There are some that had never even taken off a aircraft carrier before.

We do have a fascinating bit of footage that shows VT-8,

that torpedo squadron, on the USS Hornet.

When we look at that picture, what you see is a bunch of

20-something-year-old naval aviators.

And what you see is the swagger.

Now, probably in that swagger and the smoking of the cigarettes,

it's probably hiding a little bit of the fear of the unknown.

But even still, you see that twinkle.

"This is our time."

At 6:30am,

Japanese aircraft attack Midway and inflict heavy damage.

The battle starts off really going perfectly,

according to the Japanese plan.

But the Japanese don't know

that the American fleet has moved into position

to the northeast of Midway...

and are now ready to launch a surprise attack.

Starting at 7:00am, more than 100 aircraft

launch from the Hornet and the Enterprise.

Squadrons search for the Japanese fleet at 19,000 feet.

As an aviator in World War II,

you might have a set of binoculars to help increase your vision.

But otherwise, you're looking at about 30 square miles' worth of sea

and trying to figure out where anything is.

Three squadrons fly due west...

...but can't find the Japanese carriers.

One squadron of Devastator torpedo planes, VT-8,

flies southwest.

Just after 9:00am,

through broken clouds, they spot the Japanese fleet.

The torpedo planes are terrible.

It's only got a single machine gun.

And so these things are just lumbering,

slow, vulnerable targets that are going to be horribly exposed

to any sort of Japanese fighter opposition if they run into it.

As VT-8 lines up to attack the carriers,

they're intercepted by Japanese Zeros.

The Japanese Zero is the most advanced

Japanese aircraft that they have.

It is a world-class fighter.

It can manoeuvre like crazy. It can climb like a banshee.

The Zeros fire on VT-8.

They just tear into these formations

and began very quickly sending them,

ones and twos, arrowing down into the ocean in flames.

And the entire squadron is wiped out.

Squadron VT-8 is destroyed.

It takes less than 15 minutes.

When we think about those guys we see in the footage,

of the 15 aircraft that attacked, 14 of them will be shot down.

They get absolutely sacrificed.

Some groups sacrifice more than others,

and in that case, they sacrificed all.

While Marine fighters from Midway attack the Japanese,

they don't inflict real damage.

Other US squadrons continue to search

for the Japanese fleet.

At about 9:30 in the morning, things are going terribly.

The Americans are losing this battle,

and Nimitz's battle plan is falling apart.

If navy pilots don't locate the Japanese carriers,

Midway will fall,

and America's strategy in the Pacific

will be dealt a crushing blow.

Fighting Squadron Six of Dauntless dive bombers

are searching for the Japanese fleet that has attacked Midway.

This is the best aircraft in the United States Navy

in 1941, '42.

It carries a 1,000-pound bomb, and it can be extremely effective.

The squadron is led by Navy Lieutenant Commander

Wade McClusky, a 15-year veteran.

Wade McClusky goes out to the portion of ocean

where he expects the Japanese to be located,

and there's nothing but sun

and sea and sky and some clouds.

The squadron is in the air for close to two hours.

By 9:30am, they're running low on fuel.

But McClusky continues the search.

This is an incredibly gutsy move on McClusky's part.

The fuel gauges are really bad.

Deciding to continue his search and continue looking for the enemy,

that's really ballsy.

Oh, by the way, everybody's barking at him,

"We're pretty low on fuel. We got to get back."

But he implements a box search and starts looking for the Japanese.

Flies north for a bit, nothing.

But finally, as he's about to turn for home,

he sees a lone Japanese warship.

He goes, "He looks like he's headed somewhere in a hurry."

"If I follow that ship, it's going to take me someplace."

And he does.

30 minutes later,

McClusky spots the Japanese aircraft carriers.

By chance, another squadron of American dive bombers is nearby.

These planes would show up out of the blue

through a break in the clouds.

And all of a sudden,

they're like a swarm of bees closing in on your fleet.

And it happens insanely fast.

What you'd want to do is come out of the sun.

And then you'd roll over and roll back out,

and you'd set about a 70-degree dive angle.

You want to get as close as you can to that carrier,

about 1,500 feet.

If you've got a really good pilot,

you really can put this bomb in a pickle barrel.

Three carriers take multiple hits,

the Akagi, Soryu, and Kaga.

In the span of four minutes,

United States dive bombers

knock out three Japanese aircraft carriers.

The Japanese have one remaining carrier,

the Hiryu.

At midday, its dive bombers

find and attack the American carrier Yorktown.

After attempting to save her for hours...

...the Yorktown's captain finally orders the crew

to abandon ship.

But the Hiryu's victory is short-lived.

American bombers find it

and sink the fourth Japanese carrier of the day.

12 hours after the first Japanese attack...

...Yamamoto's plans to deliver a decisive blow

to the US fleet has collapsed.

Instead, America has delivered a devastating

and decisive blow of its own.

Four of Yamamoto's carriers are at the bottom of the ocean.

3,000 of his men are killed.

This is a turning point.

It's easy to forget now...

the feeling of revenge that Americans felt

when they were finally able to strike back at the Japanese.

President Roosevelt, who has been monitoring the battle,

finally receives word that America has won.

Midway is absolutely critical.

It allows Roosevelt to get out of this defensive crouch

that we've been in for the first seven months of this war

and begin thinking about, OK,

how would we like to reshape this war?

Where would we like to go on the offensive?

The emotional outcome of Midway might be the biggest thing, right?

This is the psychological blow.

The idea that they come to Midway, get smacked in the face,

and turn around and go back home,

psychologically devastating to the Japanese.

Oh, by the way, for the Americans,

the idea that we can fight and win

against the Japanese...

that's powerful.

After Midway,

the United States takes the upper hand in the Pacific.

For the first time, the country wins

a decisive victory against the Japanese.

America is now on the offensive in the Pacific.

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