All language subtitles for Drain.the.Oceans.S02E02.Secrets.of.New.York.City.1080p.WEB.h264-TBS_track3_[eng]

NARRATOR: Dynamic.

In Your Face.

And always moving forward.

WATSON: No city looks more to
the future than New York City.

NARRATOR: The Big Apple
grew out of water.

The secret story of
its success lies hidden
under its two rivers...

And its mighty harbor...

DELGADO: This is one
of the most notorious
stretches of water on

the New York waterfront.

NARRATOR: Imagine if
we could empty the oceans.

Letting the
water drain away...

To reveal the
secrets of the sea floor.

Now we can.

Using accurate data and
astonishing technology

to bring light once
again to a lost world.

How does the horror
of 911 lead to an
extraordinary discovery

from the birth of America?

WATSON: The most grizzly
and bloodiest event of
the entire revolutionary war.

NARRATOR: What does
this off-shore wreck

reveal about the
City's explosive growth?

JAFFE: People talked
about a forest of masts.

NARRATOR: And what
sank this huge US warship,

just miles from New York?

[theme music plays].

The largest city in America...

300 square miles.

Eight and a half
million people.

Tenacious.

Powerful.

Confident.

All of it built
from scratch...

in just 400 years.

And the secret
to its success:

its rivers and harbor.

In the waters
around New York,

archaeologists have
located thousands of wrecks.

Time capsules...

that can reveal this
city's incredible
story in a new light.

One in particular...

What is this strange wreck?

And why is it here?

[explosion]

[screams]

[siren and horn]

As New Yorkers recover
from the shock of 9/11.

The ruins of the
Twin Towers reveal a secret...

From the very start
of their city's story.

RIESS: Little did we
know that from this
terrible tragedy,

there would be
a major discovery.

A secret from the past.

NARRATOR:
By 2010 1.8 million tons
of debris have been removed.

The construction of
a high-security parking
garage is underway.

RIESS: They decided to make
that entrance underground,

so they dug down deeper
than they had before.

NARRATOR: 22 feet
beneath the tarmac.

In the shadow of
the twin towers...

The remnants of
an ancient ship.

REPORTER [over TV]:
At the construction
site at ground zero,

a rare find.

What we can
see is believed to
be half of a ship.

NARRATOR: Construction halts.

And a team
of Archaeologists
rush to ground zero.

The principle
investigator: Warren Riess.

RIESS: It was right there.

Right where the security
area is for parking at
the World Trade Center.

NARRATOR: When Warren
arrives only part of
the ship is exposed.

Its secrets still
hidden under the mud.

RIESS: The history of this
particular vessel might fill
in tremendous gaps in our

knowledge about the history
of New York City itself.

NARRATOR: To find out
more, Warren's team scan
the excavated site with

high-accuracy
laser technology.

Combining the
high-resolution 3-D data,

with cutting-edge
computer-imaging...

We can turn back time
and drain Ground Zero...

To reveal an astonishing
subterranean secret.

Layers of earth crumble away.

22 feet underground,
in the heart of Manhattan...

The flattened wreck
of a wooden ship.

It's 30-foot-long
and its wooden structure
is roughly-hewn.

RIESS: We'd never seen
a vessel just like this one.

It was not only rare
it's one of a kind.

NARRATOR:
What is this ship?

And what's
it doing beneath the
heart of Manhattan?

More than 500 yards
from the shoreline.

To find out,
Riess and his team
need to learn its age.

Taking a closer look
inside the wood they find
well preserved tree rings.

They reveal that the
timber was felled in
1773 or soon after.

RIESS: It was like
a time capsule, a
secret time capsule.

NARRATOR: In America the
1770s mean only one thing...

Revolution.

RIESS: What we have is a,

a vessel that's been
hiding underneath New York City

that's from the
revolutionary period.

NARRATOR: Back then,
New York is home to
just 25,000 people.

But the quality of
its harbor has already
made it one of America's

most successful ports.

Its strategic importance
puts New York firmly
in the cross hairs of

Britain's King George...

when the American
revolution begins in 1775.

Just a year later a
huge British invasion force
drives George Washington's

army out of the city.

[gunfire]

Could this ship have
been part of the battle?

Going back to the drained
wreckage, clues emerge...

Beneath the decking,
327 pieces of artillery.

Including a cannonball
and 56 musket balls.

Soldiers from one side
or another have clearly
been on board this ship.

Then, in the
center of the wreck,

Warren Riess's
team discover the
smallest of clues.

RIESS: This button was found,

in the midships
area on the vessel,

between some frames
and some planks and

because of that we
know it was on the ship
before it was buried.

NARRATOR: The pewter
button is stamped with
the number fifty-two.

It's fallen from the
uniform of a soldier from
the fifty second regiment

of the British army.

RIESS: They were grenadiers
which means they were very
aggressive assault troops.

Pretty exciting to find
this because this ties the
ship to a British soldier,

in New York
during the revolution.

A common soldier who's
lost their button.

NARRATOR: If this
ship was used by some of
the most fearsome troops in

the British army,
what were they using it for?

Combining the scanning
data with new research
by Texas A&M University,

we can resurrect the ship.

As her original
form rises from the dirt,
her full size becomes clear

and her striking features.

50-feet-long...

her beam, eighteen feet.

With the hull of
a river craft.

Just four feet deep
and a small keel.

This is not an
ocean-going vessel...

It's specifically
designed for use in
sheltered coastal waters.

RIESS: It was able to
get into shallow water,

into little coves,
up alongside ships.

NARRATOR: A ship that's
perfect for operating
within New York harbor,

and crewed by
British grenadiers.

Evidence that she could
be part of a little
known but brutal story.

During the war British
forces ferried many
thousands of Americans...

to a horrifying destination.

Just two miles away...

off the shores of Brooklyn.

RIESS: During the
American Revolution.

This was known
as Wallabout Bay and it was
the most lethal place during

the whole Revolution
for the Americans.

WATSON: New York City
still has its secrets,
its dark past.

Including the most
grisly and bloody,

bloodiest event of the
entire Revolutionary War.

NARRATOR: As the British
try to quell the uprising,

they capture thousands
of prisoners and ferry them

out onto the waters of
Wallabout Bay to a place
known as 'Hell Afloat'.

A flotilla of
festering British ships.

Overcrowded, freezing
cold, poorly supplied
and run by brutal guards.

WATSON: The diseases
that swept through just
terrorized the men on board.

NARRATOR: Most notorious
of all, the HMS Jersey.

WATSON: She would serve as
potentially the worst prison
ship, floating dungeon,

in human history.

NARRATOR: Warren Riess
believes that the World
Trade Center ship may

play a role in this dark
chapter of New York's history.

RIESS: They needed
boats to go back and forth
and to bring prisoners out and

this would have been
a perfect vessel for that.

They would have just
stuffed them in there even
if they had to pack them in,

sitting down.

It might carry
100 people on board.

NARRATOR: The casualty
figures are staggering.

Far worse than 9/11.

Historians estimate
that 11,000 men die
on HMS Jersey alone...

WATSON: Twice as many
men died aboard the Jersey
as were lost in combat during

the entirety of the
Revolutionary War.

It's unimaginable.

RIESS: It was a very dark
chapter of American history.

NARRATOR: One last
mystery remains about
the British ferryboat.

Why was it found under
the heart of Manhattan?

NARRATOR: America
finally wins independence.

And New York changes fast.

JAFFE: In the years after
the American Revolution,

New York very much
uh is like a phoenix

rising from the ashes
politically and economically.

NARRATOR: At its heart,
a thriving dock...

That looks very different
to the city of today.

RIESS: We're in the middle
of a modern city here,

in the lower districts
of Manhattan and about

halfway down that block
was the original shoreline.

NARRATOR: Eager to
improve their harbor New
Yorkers build new wharves.

Extending the island of
Manhattan out into the bay...

Abandoned in the docks,

half sunk in the mud,

the old British ferry is
simply built around and over.

Centuries later,

the World Trade Center
rises on top of the old
dockland and the ships

that had witnessed
America's bloody birth.

Commerce drives the city's
expansion and for commerce,
location is everything.

Facing the roaring Atlantic,

at the mouth
of the Hudson River,

New York's
huge natural harbor

is the perfect place
for an international port.

Miles of shoreline
in a protected bay.

From which an
independent America can
trade with the world.

In the 1800s,

more passengers
and cargo flow through
New York than all other

US ports combined.

JAFFE: There were so many
sailing vessels, coming
and going and docking here,

that observers would describe
it as a forest of masts.

NARRATOR: But the
city's ambition soon
outgrows the fabulous

harbor provided by nature.

Just yards from bustling
uptown Manhattan...

Evidence of an
earth-shattering event
that reshaped this city.

Just how far would New
Yorkers go to make their
port the greatest on Earth?

New York Harbor's
main entrance is the
Verrazano Narrows.

But there's a second
gateway to the Atlantic...

Long island Sound.

Crucial to sustaining the
frenzied flow of commerce.

But it's obstructed
by a perilous stretch
of the East River.

Hell Gate.

In the 1850s, one in fifty
ships are devoured here.

A terrifying statistic.

James Delgado,

Maritime archaeologist
from Search Incorporated,
wants to learn more about the

dangers of Hell Gate.

DELGADO: This early
map is particularly

remarkable because
it shows us Hell Gate...

with the positions of
a number of rocks marked.

NARRATOR: Islands and hidden
reefs choke the shipping lane.

Churning the water
into a maelstrom.

DELGADO:
This is a challenging,
if not dangerous,

area to navigate...

a gauntlet to be run.

NARRATOR: Among the
many perils of Hell Gate,

one monster looms
large and deadly...

Flood Rock.

Nine acres
of stone lurking just
beneath the surface.

Right at the
heart of Hell Gate.

Today, the channel
is still dangerous...

DELGADO: The major
obstacle was basically right

in the middle of the road,
right off of here.

NARRATOR:
But there's no sign of
Flood Rock above the water.

Does the
ship-devouring monster
lie beneath the surface?

James takes to the water.

MAN [over radio]:
Alright, sounds good.

DELGADO: This is one
of the most notorious
stretches of water on

the New York waterfront.

What you would have
been faced with is all
this fast-moving water,

and it's not just

moving in one direction
it's going back and forth,

it's swirling around rocks.

You'd sail through,
you lose the wind and
suddenly that movement of

water drags you
right into the teeth.

NARRATOR:
In search of Flood Rock,
the team from NOAA scans

Hell Gate with
multi-beam sonar...

Firing sound waves
into the murky depths...

The return signal
records the shape of
the features beneath.

MAN: This is a real
time image of the bottom.
You can see all the rubble.

DELGADO: Wow.

NARRATOR: Using
the 3-D multi-beam
data and the latest

computer visualization
technology...

It's now possible
to pull the plug
on the entire harbor.

To reveal a
jaw-dropping sight...

Icons of the city,
as never seen before...

As the water recedes
from the East River,

the remains of Flood Rock
should come into view...

But there's not a
trace of the beast that is
shown in the old charts.

Nine acres of
rock have vanished.

How?

Buried in the archives...

An incredible story
of New York self-confidence
and ambition.

DELGADO: This 1848 chart
by the US coast survey
is actually a working

document it
was never published.

This is for an engineer
to figure out how best to
start dealing with this.

How do we pull these
teeth to make this a
smoother ride through?

NARRATOR: Backed by
wealthy New York merchants,

the City Fathers
make a decision.

The future of the
city is at stake.

Flood Rock has got to go.

DELGADO: It is the
beginning of an age in which
nothing was deemed impossible,

if enough ingenuity,

engineering and perhaps
money was put behind it
as human beings worked to

reshape the planet
to their purposes.

NARRATOR: James
discovers how the city's
engineers planned to do it.

By attacking the problem....

From beneath.

First, they sink
a 70-foot shaft into
the heart of the island.

Over nine long years,

miners dig four
miles of tunnels...

And drill 15,000
bore-holes and in them
they place a staggering

150 tons of explosives.

DELGADO: The Hell Gate
work is an epic moment in the
history of civil engineering...

this is a moment in
which technology will
triumph over nature.

NARRATOR:
On October the 10th 1885,
50,000 people flock to

New York's East River.

DELGADO: Everybody is
waiting for the big show.

NARRATOR: Flood Rock is
primed with explosives...

And the detonator is pushed.

[explosions]

Seven million cubic feet of
pulverized rock flies up into
the skies over New York City.

DELGADO: The greatest
explosion, not only
that New York has seen,

but that the world
has seen up to that time.

NARRATOR: And
when the spray clears,

Flood Rock is history.

Leaving the riverbed
looking like a gravel pit.

JAFFE: If you really wanna
think about how New Yorkers
have reconfigured and

reshaped their entire
environment both on land and

in water I think the word
chutzpah is perfect for that.

NARRATOR: With its second
entrance now secure,

New York's shipping
business increases at an

ever-faster rate.

Cargo ships move sugar,

spices, cotton, machinery
and construction materials...

all to feed America's
booming economy.

DELGADO: New York
expands dramatically
in the 19th century...

it's becoming the
industrial and commercial
heart of the United States.

NARRATOR: By the 1880s
the city's population
is more than a million.

And its waters are
getting crowded...

Dangerously so.

In the wild Atlantic,
just a few miles beyond
New York harbor...

What can one strange
offshore wreck tell us
of the pace of trade through

the waters of New York?

And the peril facing those
pursuing the American dream.

Before daybreak,
on March the 14th, 1886...

The SS Oregon is nearing
the end of a 3,000-mile
voyage from England.

Transporting her cargo
and over 600 passengers
through the dark approach to

New York harbor.

It's a calm night.

Just 60 miles stand between
her and her final destination.

But at first light,

a look-out from Fire
Island signal station
reports her masts

drifting off course.

Moments later the
Oregon disappears.

And never arrives in New York.

What happens to her and
all the people onboard,

out in the darkness?

DELGADO: As flat as this
seems, this is a dangerous
section of ocean.

There are many disasters
that happen within the reach
of this light's beams but every

once in a while,

there comes a big disaster
in which a large ship is lost.

NARRATOR: For over 130 years,

Oregon has lain
shrouded by the Atlantic.

DELGADO: The waters off
the New York coast are dark,

cold and often murky.

NARRATOR: The ocean has
concealed her secrets.

But now that's changing.

Off the Southern
shore of Fire Island,

the Ferdinand R. Hassler
goes in search of wreckage.

KIDD: You are clear to turn
around and make another pass.

NARRATOR: For hundreds of
years the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration's

coast survey has been charting
and re-charting these waters.

KIDD: We're about
12 nautical miles south
of Fire Island and we're

about to go right
on top of her now.

NARRATOR: Multi-beam
scanners in the ship's
hull emit sonar pulses.

KIDD: We use
this technology to very
accurately and precisely

map features
on the ocean floor.

Oh, wow there it is!

Look at that, that's awesome!

NARRATOR: Based
upon this detailed
three-dimensional data,

we can bring the Oregon,

and her story,
back into the light....

First, a towering
structure of tangled metal.

The water receding further...

The Oregon as
never seen before.

She's taken a
beating from the ocean;

her insides are exposed to
the elements allowing us to

examine what
type of ship she is.

Though her masts
were seen from ashore,

they must have
been supplementary.

Oregon isn't a sail ship.

In fact, she represents
a revolution in shipping.

She is a steamer.

Beneath her four-story
high steam engine,

the remains
of nine boilers...

Each 16-feet wide.

DELGADO: This thing
is a behemoth.

With so many fires going,

that it's consuming
massive amounts of coal.

NARRATOR:
And towards her stern,

a huge screw propeller,
24 feet wide.

This is the corpse
of an athlete...

A ship built with
one thing in mind...

Speed.

But why?

The answer is part of the
DNA of New York City itself...

Immigrants.

WATSON: Folks from
all around the world came
for opportunity and for

this dream that
New York City was.

NARRATOR: More than
70% of immigrants bound
for America arrive

in New York.

JAFFE: New York is the
gateway, as Lincoln said,
it was the front door.

NARRATOR: By the late 1800s
650,000 immigrants arrive,

every year and up
to 20,000 boats a year

maneuver through
the harbor,

and everyone is in a hurry.

DELGADO: It's a time
of rampant capitalism.

Great fortunes are being made.

Profit is everything!

JAFFE: The waters are
just alive with vessels.

NARRATOR: Faster ships mean
more trade and bigger profits.

Time is money.

The quest for profit
leads to an extraordinary
technological race to

build ships that
will cross the Atlantic
faster and faster.

DELGADO: The early days of
ocean steam are cut-throat.

You have entrepreneurs
who are battling
it out on the ocean.

By the 1870s
and into the 1880s,

that's when you begin
to see the birth of truly

magnificent ocean steamers.

Greyhounds of the sea.

Leviathans.

NARRATOR: The
British-operated 'Guion Line'

builds the Oregon
in 1881 to boost its
New York Express Service.

And she's cutting-edge.

DELGADO: It has the largest
steam engine yet put
into one of these ships.

NARRATOR:
Consuming over 200
tons of coal a day,

her boilers generate
upwards of 12,000 horsepower...

Driving the huge screw
propeller that thrusts
Oregon forward at an

astonishing eighteen knots.

In April 1884 she
crosses the Atlantic in
under 6 and a half days.

Slashing 13 hours
off the record.

DELGADO: It's something
that nobody had
thought could be done.

NARRATOR: Oregon claims the
prize and earns the nickname
Greyhound of the Atlantic.

So, what took down
such a powerful machine?

Returning to the drained
wreck there's a clue.

Disguised by decades of decay.

On her port side a
section of the hull is more
crumpled than anywhere else.

Something must have
ripped a hole right here.

But what?

The degradation means
it's impossible to tell
from the wreckage alone.

An article from the New
York Times holds the answer.

Oregon is a victim of New
York's heaving waterways.

JAFFE: The risk of getting
into a collision is
actually shockingly high.

NARRATOR: Combining this
research with the evidence
from the drained wreck,

we can piece together
the final moments.

At 4:30 in the morning
Oregon is bound for New York.

Under a full head of steam.

DELGADO: It's a dark night,

they're lining up and
heading towards the port.

They can see the lights
along the Long Island shore,

the Fire Island light
is brilliantly lit.

NARRATOR: A light
appears on her port side.

DELGADO: It's another ship,

heading right for
them and it strikes them
dramatically on the side.

Then the other ship
backs off and disappears.

The ocean is pouring
into the heart of Oregon.

NARRATOR: Over eight
frantic hours nearby boats
rescue every passenger

on board the Oregon.

Their dreams of a new life
in America still intact.

But the mighty Oregon has
suffered a fatal blow.

DELGADO: This Greyhound
of the Atlantic has been
gored and sunk just off the

entrance to the city.

NARRATOR: While Oregon
never makes it to port
thousands more liners do.

Ellis Island opens in 1892.

Twelve million new Americans
pour through its halls.

Ocean liners flood
the harbor, beckoning
a golden age...

In just a century
New York's population grows
from 60,000 to

three and a half million.

By 1900 it's
the largest city in
the western hemisphere.

Drawing the eyes
of the world.

Including those who
would try and take her down.

40 miles from New York,

off the shores
of Long Island.

What sank this giant?

And how does her
sinking reveal New York's
vulnerability at the

dawn of the 20th century?

NARRATOR:
In the Summer of 1917,

America is at war.

Trans-Atlantic convoys,

carrying troops and
supplies to Europe,

are key to the Allies
hopes of success.

Protected by warships...

Like the USS San Diego.

500-feet-long,
over 13,000 tons...

Armor-plated, with 40
guns of up to eight inches.

And multiple
watertight bulkheads
to make her unsinkable.

On July 19th, 1918,
she's approaching New
York to pick up a convoy.

At 11:05 am,
just outside the harbor,

she is rocked
by a huge explosion.

CATSAMBIS: Within 20
minutes the ship had sunk.

San Diego was the only
major US Navy warship
lost in the Great War...

it happens to lie
just a few miles from
the coast of New York.

NARRATOR: So, what happened?

A team from the US Navy
has reopened the case.

Led by archaeologist
Alexis Catsambis.

CATSAMBIS: The question has
lingered for over a century...

What sank San Diego?

NARRATOR: To find out,

Navy divers
explore the wreckage
of this sunken warrior.

But it's impossible
to see the whole picture
through the murky waters.

Working with the
University of Delaware,

Alexis deploys
three-dimensional scanning

equipment to map San Diego's
structure on the seafloor.

CATSAMBIS: This project
is the first time we're
getting comprehensive

remote sensing data.

NARRATOR: Combining this
new data with the latest
computer imaging technology

we can do something
impossible before now...

Reveal, in perfect detail,

the wreck of a US
casualty of the Great War.

The San Diego comes
into the light for the
first time in 100 years.

It's the beautiful sleek
shape of her 500-foot
hull that appears first.

The steel structure
is in remarkable
condition for her age.

Apart from this...

Towards her stern, a section
of the hull that's damaged.

This is the blast site....
Eroded by decades of decay.

But it appears to be
below the waterline.

If something hit the ship,
it was beneath the surface.

The team studies
the historical records.

There's no suggestion that
engine malfunction or onboard
ordnance caused the blast.

Reinforcing the view
that it could been caused
by something more sinister.

Advances in technology
mean German U-boats can
now cross the Atlantic.

CATSAMBIS:
This is a, a new era
where submarine warfare

is taking over.

JAFFE: The war was
brought to New York shores.

NARRATOR: By the
1900s New York is the
planet's busiest port.

An irresistible target
for the Imperial German Navy.

WATSON: If you're an
enemy of the United States,

what is a more symbolic
target than New York City?

NARRATOR: The team wonders
if a torpedo from a U-boat

could have caused
the explosion?

To answer the question,

they calculate
the original size
of the blast hole.

CATSAMBIS:
What damage is related to
that original point of impact

and that original explosion?

NARRATOR: They find a
report from a Navy diver who
visited the wreck in 1918.

CHESER: He says he was along
the bottom on the port side
around no 4 smoke stack.

NARRATOR: He estimates the
cavity to be just 5 feet wide.

NAHSHON: That corresponds
to being right below the
armor belt which make sense.

NARRATOR:
Using this data,

we can reconstruct
the original blast hole...

Could it have been
caused by a torpedo?

The team models the
damage that World War I

torpedo payloads
cause and get a surprise.

CATSAMBIS: It became
rather evident that
the torpedoes were simply

too large of a weapon.

They carried too large
of a charge and would have
resulted in a hole that was

far larger than 5 or 6 feet.

NARRATOR: They
wonder if it was a mine.

Incredibly, archives
from the German government
reveal U-boats were ordered

to lay mines outside
New York harbor.

CHESER: They knew
that it was an important
area for shipping for the

United States and allies.

NARRATOR: But they discover
standard German mines,

known as Type 4,

also inflict a blast hole
larger than five feet.

Then, a key insight.

By 1918, Germany is running
short of explosives.

CATSAMBIS: The Germans,
by the end of the war,

were using
diminished charges.

NARRATOR: And allowing
for the reduced charge
in a 'Type four' mine...

it produces a blast hole
close to five feet wide.

It appears to be a match.

San Diego was
almost certainly hit
by a small German mine.

But there's
another question...

The hole is still tiny.

How could it sink
a 500-foot long ship

in just 20 minutes
and flip her upside down?

NARRATOR: Forty
miles from New York,

the drained wreck of the
San Diego reveals another

piece of the puzzle.

CATSAMBIS: Understanding
the weapon is only one
part of a larger picture.

We want to understand the
whole sequence of events
and how the ship sank.

NARRATOR: Watertight
bulkheads and doors are

specifically designed to
stop the spread of water and
keep this warship upright.

But somehow San Diego
turned upside down.

She sank through
just 100 feet of water;

not enough for her
to roll on the descent.

She must have capsized
at the surface.

How did a small hole
in a watertight section of
this ship leave her lying

prone on the seafloor?

Alexis and his
colleagues are sure that
water must have penetrated

further into her hull.

CATSAMBIS:
We needed to understand
how this happened...

how did we get to
the point where instead
of simply sinking,

the ship turned in on herself.

NARRATOR: Analysis shows that
even with substantial flooding
San Diego wouldn't capsize.

Baffled, the team studies
San Diego's structure,

looking for
signs of weakness.

NAHSHON: So here we can
see a plan of the of the gun
deck of the USS San Diego.

NARRATOR: But plans are
no match for inspecting
a real warship.

A contemporary
of the San Diego,
although a few years older,

is the cruiser:

USS Olympia.

The oldest steel
warship still afloat.

Examining her internal
structure, the team
makes a breakthrough.

CATSAMBIS: Then we realized
that the fact that she was
coal powered was critical and

crucial to our determination
of how she capsized.

NARRATOR: Coal, stored on
deck, has to be delivered
to the engine rooms below.

CATSAMBIS: So, this
chute would have been
somewhat like the one we would

find on San Diego,

it would have allowed
coal to be deposited all the
way through the coal bunkers

and even though you can close
it, it's still not watertight.

NARRATOR: This weakness
hadn't been clear on
the San Diego's plans.

CATSAMBIS: There were
additional entry points
we were not factoring in.

NARRATOR: The watertight
bulkheads prevent seawater
from flooding the entire hull,

but these chutes
and a network of vents
gave it another route.

CATSAMBIS: And so, water
coming in through the gun deck
would have permeated through

these chutes into the
coal bunkers and from there
on to the engine rooms and

the boiler rooms and
throughout the vessel.

NARRATOR: By examining
San Diego's wreckage,

and piecing
together the clues,

we're able to
tell her complete story
for the very first time.

The USS San Diego is
headed for New York.

The horizon is clear.

But there's danger
lurking beneath the water.

A German U-boat has
laid a minefield.

San Diego brushes against one.

CATSAMBIS: Water spewed
into the air and it
started then flooding the

engineering and
boiler room spaces.

NARRATOR: As she lists,

water pours onto the
gundeck from the port side.

Rapidly penetrating
the ship via the coal
chutes and vents...

tipping her further.

CATSAMBIS: Within a few
moments she had capsized
and, and was on her

way to the bottom.

NARRATOR:
All but six of her 1,100
strong crew survived.

But San Diego sinks
to her watery grave...

just miles from the
heart of New York city.

A heavyweight victim
of a calculated attack.

Draining New York city
reveals stories of conflict,

immigration and
ruthless ambition.

Today the spirit
and success of this
remarkable city...

Still invites enemy attack.

To which New York
gives a familiar reply,
defiance.

Captioned by Cotter
Captioning Services.