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00:30The feeling of tension before the battle is overwhelming. I pray for victory and our safe return home.
00:42It is 5.30 p.m. There is no sign of the enemy.
00:47Suddenly the alarm sounds. Royal Navy ships have been spotted about 19 kilometers away.
00:55They will soon be within range.
01:00SMS Nassau heels to the side. She has fired her first salvo.
01:06And then for the first and only time in the First World War you get the full strength of both sides' fleets.
01:12And if you imagine the scene, you've got 150 ships on one side and 100 ships on the other, so 250 ships.
01:19Never before has so much firepower been packed into such a small piece of ocean.
01:26Sailors on both sides know today will bring death or glory.
01:31Dreadnoughts. Battlecruisers. Submarines. Destroyers.
01:41By the turn of the 20th century, European navies are launching a series of ever faster and ever more deadly steel war machines.
01:49To win the naval arms race, engineers and sailors use technology and tactics.
02:04They seek to see beyond the horizon, to aim faster and with greater accuracy, and to constantly push the limits of human achievement.
02:12It was not easy to sink a battleship. It really wasn't.
02:18But to sink a battlecruiser, one lucky shot.
02:25These formidable new weapons demand new naval strategies.
02:29And for the first time, war was being waged from the ocean's depths.
02:33What was left? All-out submarine warfare.
02:38This invisible threat can strike without warning.
02:42There is a tendency for people to see periscopes everywhere.
02:45It's something that is, there's a visceral fear of submarines.
02:56In a war between nations, warships on the high seas will hold the key to victory.
03:03Because whoever rules the waves, rules the world.
03:33In a war between nations, warships on the Kom мик examining her, rules the world.
03:35In a war between nations, warships on the European continent.
03:38Japan, parks along!"
03:51Japan, parks alongив High sotty, housespres attention, powersu Bayon, rock색, etc.
03:58Now
04:01At the close of the 1st century,
04:02la Nación británica dominó los océanos.
04:09La Francia es el centro de la mayor parte de la colonia colombiana.
04:13Dos de los alimentos de su comida es importada y transportada a los barcos.
04:21Es el trabajo de la Nación de la Nación para proteger estos ríos de negocios.
04:27En 1854, un niño 13 de la Nación abierta la victoria de HMS.
04:33El íconoc 3-masted veteran de la Napoleónica de la Nación.
04:37Nuestro nombre es John Jackie Fisher.
04:45Para el examinamiento de la Nación, todo lo que tenía que hacer era la palabra de la Nación,
04:49hacer un regalo de tres, y beber un grato de sherry.
04:52Mi primer barco fue la victoria.
04:54Once la pride de la fleet, HMS Victory fue construido de 6,000 English Oaks.
04:59Pero sus días son números.
05:01La Nación de la Nación de la Nación ha revolucionado shipbuilding.
05:05La Nación de la Nación de la Nación de la Nación de la Nación de la Nación.
05:10Nine years after enlisting in the Royal Navy,
05:13John Fisher witnesses a major technological milestone.
05:17He is assigned to the very first British ship built with an iron hull,
05:20HMS Warrior.
05:23The Warrior, our first armor-clad warship,
05:25would cause a fundamental change in what had been in vogue for something like a thousand years.
05:30Unlike in the past, no human valor can now compensate for mechanical inferiority.
05:34An ironclad hull is covered in thick armor plating that protects the most vulnerable areas of the ship.
05:41The hard metal surface deflects cannonballs while an inner layer of wood helps absorb their impact.
05:53This combination makes Warrior virtually immune from enemy fire.
05:57And other maritime powers such as France and the United States are working on their own steel battleships.
06:07As he progresses through the ranks of the Royal Navy,
06:14John Fisher witnesses increasingly formidable warships emerging from the yards.
06:22So what you've had is a period of breakneck technological change.
06:27The Royal Navy have gone from, in less than a generation,
06:31from ships that were made of wood, powered by sails and wind power,
06:35and armed with muzzle-loading cannon to steel battleships.
06:43John Fisher knows that any other navy with ironclad ships is an automatic threat to Great Britain.
06:50He sees in this an arms race the Royal Navy cannot afford to lose.
06:57Great Britain must maintain command of the sea at all costs.
07:01Therefore, we must be decisively stronger than any possible enemy.
07:04The ships we lay down this year may have their influence 20 years hence.
07:11Naval technologies have even developed to the point where it's possible to turn science fiction into reality.
07:16Across the channel in France, another young engineer is bursting with new ideas.
07:28His name is Maxime Leboeuf.
07:31And in 1883, he embraces the challenge of conquering the ocean's depths.
07:35I read 20,000 leagues under the sea when I was 10, and it fuelled my enthusiasm and passion.
07:51I knew that the future belonged to submarines.
07:55Leboeuf entered the Ecole Polytechnique, choosing to specialize in maritime engineering, so he was destined to build battleships.
08:06Leboeuf was passionate about new ideas.
08:08People have experimented with building submarines for centuries.
08:13But in 1886, French engineers built the world's first electric submersible.
08:18It has a range of 50 kilometers underwater, but then has to be back in port to recharge its batteries.
08:25Until the 1890s, producing a true submarine just wasn't feasible.
08:31The vessel was kind of a long cigar that could dive in very improbable conditions by reducing its buoyancy.
08:44Maxime Leboeuf's revolutionary vision is to combine an electric motor with a steam engine, like those used on surface ships.
08:52In this way, he hopes to kill two birds with one stone.
08:56The steam engine expands the submersible's range while simultaneously recharging the batteries necessary for diving.
09:06But there's still the problem of keeping the vessel afloat above the waterline.
09:11Submarines must be round to withstand the extreme pressure underwater.
09:17But round submarines capsize on the surface.
09:23How to solve this problem?
09:26A competition launched by the French Navy in 1896 gives Leboeuf an opportunity to put his ideas to the test.
09:32The program for this competition is relatively flexible.
09:38It's all about imagining a new ship, the making of which is left to the inventors.
09:44In all, 29 projects are submitted to the French Navy.
09:53Leboeuf's proposal is particularly radical.
09:57He wants to make two ships in one.
10:02The inner rounded hull will withstand crushing water pressure.
10:10It houses the crew and equipment.
10:13This round hull is surrounded by a second hull, shaped like the hull of a regular ship.
10:18This outer hull provides stability on the surface.
10:21Leboeuf's prototype, the narval, wins the competition and is immediately put into service.
10:30This innovative design influences all submarines that come after it.
10:36While underwater, this new type of warship is largely protected from enemy fire.
10:43Water serves as armor because though it is not as dense as steel, it is way, way denser than air.
10:55And anything that you shoot into the water is going to slow down.
11:00Missiles of any kind, bullets or whatever you will, shots,
11:04under the point that they're ineffective.
11:08Submerged submarines are impervious to enemy guns.
11:11On the other hand, submarines are equipped with their own formidable weapons, torpedoes.
11:17These are propelled by a cylinder of compressed air and armed with explosive warheads.
11:22Once launched, they move stealthily towards enemy ships, striking them where their armor is thinnest.
11:28Maxine Leboeuf is convinced that his narval will secure France's place among the world's most powerful nations.
11:42The real way to guarantee peace is to give everyone the opportunity to be respected.
11:47The submarine offers a cheaper and safer way to defend against aggression from a more powerful nation.
11:53LaBeouf's Europe is a tinderbox, waiting for someone to light a match.
12:07At the start of the 20th century, Europe is embroiled in a fierce arms race.
12:12In April 1904, France and England form an alliance.
12:18They fear Germany more than they dislike each other.
12:22And Germany is aggressively building a navy to match the most powerful army in Europe.
12:31Kaiser Wilhelm II dreams of having his own colonial empire.
12:35One that will surpass even that of his close relative, the King of England.
12:39Wilhelm's navy, a symbol of Germany's industrial power, has become his obsession.
12:45Meanwhile in Great Britain, John Fisher, now first sea lord, believes that his king has underestimated the threat.
12:54He is convinced they must act to stop Germany, and fast.
12:58The Royal Navy may be the largest in the world, but it is scattered around the globe.
13:05Meanwhile, the German fleet is concentrated in the North Sea and Baltic.
13:10It poses a direct threat to British soil.
13:15Fisher knows that to continue to rule the seas, the Royal Navy must modernize, at any cost.
13:21He is a visionary.
13:22He's been described as one of those individuals who stands on that line between genius and insanity.
13:28And he sets out to reform the Royal Navy in a variety of incredibly dramatic ways.
13:38He starts with the guns.
13:40Currently, British ships employ many different guns of different sizes and calibers.
13:47But Fisher has a revolutionary idea.
13:51Keep only the largest guns.
13:53Because the bigger the gun, the longer its range, and the greater its destructive power.
14:03If a man throws a glass of wine in your face, do not throw a glass of wine in his.
14:07Throw the decanter.
14:08And that is what I, as an advocate of the heavy gun, propose to do.
14:15Fisher was the father of the most modern warship of the early 20th century, known as the Dreadnought.
14:23Which literally means, fear-naught.
14:30In 1906, the launch of this colossus stunned the world.
14:34It was, up to then, the largest warship ever built.
14:41When Fisher launches Dreadnought onto the world, he is saying, we are going to tear up our fleet.
14:48We're going to render everything else obsolete.
14:51Previous battleships had no more than four large cannons.
14:55Fisher's HMS Dreadnought has ten.
14:59She will thus be able to fire more than twice as many shells at an enemy as they can return.
15:07As with HMS Warrior, Dreadnought's vital parts are protected by thick armor.
15:15But iron has been replaced with something even stronger.
15:18Steel.
15:20Assembling these behemoths is an enormous task.
15:26Each panel must be riveted to the hull by hand.
15:29The steel armor is harder on the outside and softer on the inside.
15:35The outer layer deflects shells.
15:39While the more flexible interior absorbs their impact.
15:45But building the biggest, most powerful warship wasn't enough for Fisher.
15:51We cannot build for the moment.
15:55We are the trustees of future generations who may not enjoy the same serene sky as ourselves.
15:59We are on the threshold of a new era in naval construction.
16:05For Fisher, the Dreadnought was a choice of reason.
16:09But his choice of passion would be the battlecruiser.
16:14Admiral Fisher is not content with having the world's most powerful warship.
16:18He wants the fastest one as well.
16:21He wants to take a copy of the Dreadnought and strip away as much armor as possible.
16:25Such a battlecruiser, as he calls the design, would be much lighter and much faster.
16:34England's other admirals believe that such a ship would be too vulnerable.
16:39Myself, I hate these brainy men.
16:42No brainy man ever sees that speed is armor.
16:45What these splendid armor bearers say is,
16:47give me a strong ship which no silly ass of a captain can damage.
16:50But Fisher emerges victorious.
16:55Shipyards all over Britain churn out his modern warships.
17:09They are not alone.
17:11Other European nations have joined the naval arms race, such as France.
17:15And especially Germany, whose shipyards are building non-stop.
17:19Catapulting the German fleet from the fifth largest in the world to the second largest.
17:24It was the prestige project that Wilhelm II pushed through.
17:30Many people were very enthusiastic.
17:33As in many countries, feelings of nationalism ran high.
17:35And a powerful navy was one way of showing that to the outside world.
17:42Germany's meteoric rise alarms Jackie Fisher.
17:46He is even more convinced the Royal Navy must make a pre-emptive strike.
17:50The only thing in the world that England has to fear is Germany.
17:54And no one else.
17:56England's guns must be pointed at Germany.
17:57I believe that war has become inevitable.
18:02Fisher demands to launch a surprise attack against the German fleet.
18:06But King Edward VII refuses.
18:09Frustrated and disillusioned, Fisher retires in 1911.
18:14But the storm he predicted looms on the horizon.
18:16The war that Fisher foresaw begins on July 28th, 1914.
18:31Germany and its allies march on Serbia, Russia, Luxembourg, Belgium and France.
18:39Anticipation grows for the long-predicted clash between the German high seas fleet and the Royal Navy.
18:44But neither side is willing to gamble with their fleet.
18:50Instead, Britain opts for a time-honored tactic.
18:54A naval blockade.
18:56Deploying the bulk of their fleet to Scapa Flow, Scotland and the English Channel.
19:03Where were the lines of dreadnoughts facing off against one another?
19:08Where was the decisive battle?
19:10The early part of the 20th century was devoted to building superb and costly fleets.
19:16Increasing gun calibres, bolstering protection, ramping up speed.
19:21Just to set up a blockade?
19:23With this blockade, the Royal Navy hopes to neutralise the German fleet by trapping it in the North Sea.
19:29And just as importantly, the blockade will prevent merchant ships from reaching Germany.
19:36This will deprive the Germans of raw materials and weapons.
19:41And food.
19:42What's immoral about it is that blockades essentially attack civilians.
19:50In Germany, that first pick of the food went to the army.
19:54And then there was a hierarchy, so the civilians in general suffered most from hunger.
20:04With its battleships penned in the North Sea, Germany has one hope to turn the tables on the British fleet.
20:11Submarines.
20:12On February 4th, 1915, the Germans unleashed the full potential of this previously untested weapon.
20:20In the waters near the British Isles, German U-boats sink every merchant's ship within range.
20:25The Germans did not have the capital ships to do the same thing to England, but they had submarines.
20:43And what they could do was, people could hardly even try to get to Germany.
20:48They could try to get to England, but at the height of success of the German submarine efforts, a quarter of the ships going to England were making one-way trips.
21:03The attack causes British merchant ships to panic.
21:07It also provokes the ire of French engineer Maxime Leboeuf, who sees his distinctive double hull design reflected in the lethal German U-boats.
21:16It's not for me to speculate on how the Germans got hold of my plans, but it is the only possible way for them to have built operational submarines so quickly.
21:34Leboeuf's narval had no real way of seeing underwater.
21:38But the German U-boats are equipped with modern periscopes.
21:42With these, they become formidable weapons.
21:44Lurking beneath the surface, they are undetectable.
21:49To kill, they only have to close in and fire.
21:52And there's no weapon to attack a submarine underwater.
21:53I mean, you get quite ridiculous techniques early in the First World War, all sorts of bizarre ideas for climbing on a submarine's periscope and sticking a hand grenade on the periscope.
22:01They literally have no means of sinking a submarine when it's underwater.
22:02Submarines have proven how valuable they can be.
22:06But the Germans simply don't have enough of them.
22:07So they ramp up production and begin recruiting new crews.
22:09One of these new recruits.
22:10One of these new recruits is Lothar de La Perriere, age 29.
22:11Lothar de La Perriere, age 29.
22:12He spends the early part of the war stuck behind him.
22:13He's a soldier, and he's a soldier.
22:14He's a soldier.
22:15He's a soldier.
22:16And he's a soldier.
22:17And he's a soldier.
22:18And there were to run nikki.
22:19He稱it supplements.
22:20And he's the leader, so many immune companies have sparked attention to the boat.
22:22But I thinkido, he nihysofal.
22:23He can stop schle Vancouver shooting.
22:24I mean, burning a submarine when it's underwater.
22:25Submarines have proven how valuable they can be.
22:26But the Germans simply don't have enough of them.
22:29So they ramp up production.
22:31And begin recruiting new crews.
22:33Uno de estos nuevos recrues es Lotard de la Perriere.
22:38Aged 29, él spends la primera parte de la guerra
22:41por detrás de un desco.
22:44I wanted to go.
22:45I wanted to go immediately,
22:47antes de ir demasiado tarde.
22:48Pero no hasta el año 1915
22:50me ha logrado en el enlace
22:52en los ejemplos de los ejemplos.
22:59Cuando Lotard de la Perriere
23:00completes su entrenamiento,
23:02German U-boats
23:03continue terrorizing enemy vessels.
23:14May 7, 1915,
23:17off the coast of Ireland.
23:19German submarine U-20
23:21spots Lusitania,
23:22a British steamship
23:23on its way from New York
23:24to Liverpool.
23:26At 2.10pm,
23:28U-20 fires a torpedo.
23:3218 minutes later,
23:35Lusitania disappears
23:36into the abyss.
23:391,198 passengers
23:41and crew drown.
23:47Propaganda fuels
23:48a massive wave of outrage
23:49in Europe
23:50and inspires a new kind of terror.
23:52There is a tendency
23:53for people to see
23:54periscopes everywhere
23:55because it's that
23:56kind of unseen menace.
23:58It's a threat
23:59that you can't see,
24:00I guess, like disease.
24:01It's something that is,
24:02there's a visceral fear
24:04of submarines.
24:04The United States is furious.
24:08128 of the Lusitania victims
24:10are American nationals.
24:13Newspapers call the sinking
24:14an act of German barbarism.
24:16And footage from the funerals
24:18plays on newsreels nationwide.
24:21America,
24:22which had remained neutral so far,
24:24threatens to join the war.
24:26Rather than face the Americans,
24:28Germany agrees to new rules
24:29for using submarines.
24:32According to the prize law,
24:34a merchant ship
24:34had to be stopped,
24:35searched and looked at
24:36to see what was on it.
24:38If there is ammunition on it,
24:40then it is clearly war material.
24:42One was allowed to destroy
24:43and sink it.
24:45But you had to make sure
24:46that the crew was rescued
24:47before you were allowed
24:48to sink the ship.
24:53Practically speaking,
24:53to perform a search,
24:55a submarine must come
24:56to the surface.
24:58But a submarine
24:59above the water
24:59is vulnerable to attack.
25:07German U-boats
25:08also patrol the Mediterranean,
25:10where many British merchant ships
25:12transit supplies
25:13from the colonies.
25:15The U-boats are based
25:17at Pola,
25:18an Adriatic port
25:19governed by Germany's
25:20Austro-Hungarian allies.
25:22There are far fewer American ships
25:30in these waters.
25:32This is where
25:32Lothar de la Perrière
25:33is posted
25:34when he completes
25:35his training.
25:37When he arrives,
25:39the former desk clerk
25:40is told to limit
25:41his expectations.
25:41The flotilla commander
25:45told me,
25:46you don't need
25:47to sink anything.
25:48Just bring the boat
25:49back in one piece.
25:50Lothar assumes command
26:02of U-35.
26:03At 65 meters,
26:05it is almost twice as long
26:06as the French narval.
26:09Equipped with four torpedo tubes,
26:10it can remain submerged
26:12for 16 hours straight.
26:14To protect itself
26:15at the surface,
26:15it has a gun on deck.
26:17In January 1916,
26:24Lothar de la Perrière
26:25is finally sent out
26:26on a mission
26:27in the Mediterranean.
26:29He is just in time
26:30to experience
26:31new anti-submarine
26:32countermeasures.
26:35On January 17th,
26:37U-35 spots a cargo ship
26:39sailing under an enemy flag.
26:43After halting it
26:44with a warning shot,
26:45Lothar de la Perrière
26:46dispatches his men
26:47to search it.
26:51I dived and approached
26:53very carefully,
26:54raising the periscope.
26:55We surrounded the steamboat
26:57100 meters away.
26:59On board,
26:59nothing moved.
27:01The name Melanie
27:02was written across the bow.
27:04I gave the order
27:05to surface.
27:06Suddenly,
27:07all hell broke loose
27:08as depth charges
27:09began to explode
27:10above our heads.
27:11It's a trap.
27:31This cargo ship
27:32is a decoy
27:33armed to the teeth
27:34and hunting
27:35German submarines.
27:36It was a British idea
27:46to arm merchant ships
27:48and conceal the weapons.
27:51The ship looks like
27:53a completely harmless
27:54cargo vessel.
27:55Then,
27:56as the German
27:57submarine surfaces,
27:59the guns are exposed
28:00and fired.
28:03Q-ships are a very
28:04underhand weapon.
28:05And actually,
28:06when you start
28:06to get into those
28:07kind of ethical discussions
28:08around the rules of war,
28:11can we really blame
28:12the Germans for sinking
28:13from a submerged position
28:14when there's a risk
28:15that the ship
28:15they're attacking
28:16might well be
28:17a disguised Q-ship?
28:18Concealing weapons of war
28:22aboard merchant vessels
28:23is against the rules
28:24of naval combat.
28:26But these decoy ships
28:27are highly effective.
28:30Their machine guns
28:30can easily pierce
28:31the armor of a submarine
28:32sitting on the surface.
28:38Lothar de la Perrière
28:39and his men
28:40managed to escape
28:41this time.
28:47They know
28:48they may not be
28:48so lucky again.
28:57After two years
28:58in the North Sea,
28:59the British blockade
29:00is working as intended.
29:03Germany is slowly starving.
29:05Food imports
29:06are cut off.
29:08Fertilizer shortages
29:09have led to crop failures.
29:12Famine looms.
29:18Germany's mighty battleships
29:21can't remain
29:22on the sidelines
29:22any longer.
29:23No matter the risk
29:24to the fleet,
29:26they must try
29:26and break the blockade.
29:30The Germans wait
29:31for years.
29:32In Germany,
29:33it's known as
29:33Der Tag,
29:34the day,
29:35when they will
29:35steam out of their bases
29:36and fight the Royal Navy
29:37and win control
29:38of the oceans.
29:39May 31st,
29:431916.
29:46Der Tag has come.
29:49The entire German
29:50High Seas fleet,
29:5299 ships in all,
29:54set sail.
29:57The ships communicate
29:58with each other
29:59with flag signals
30:00and searchlights.
30:01They also have radios,
30:05but these are not
30:05used on the high seas
30:06because the Royal Navy
30:09could intercept
30:09the radio messages.
30:12And the sailors,
30:13like Rupert Berger,
30:15know that surprise
30:16is their only chance
30:17against the still
30:17superior Royal Navy.
30:21All we know
30:22is that there is
30:23an English squadron
30:24along the Norwegian coast.
30:26We need to intercept it
30:27and sink it.
30:29The feeling of tension
30:29before the battle
30:30is overwhelming.
30:31First,
30:34they must find the enemy.
30:40Using binoculars,
30:42German sailors
30:42scour the horizon
30:43for any sign
30:44of the British fleet.
30:46From the highest
30:47vantage point
30:48aboard ship,
30:49the horizon
30:49is 15 kilometers away.
30:52In optimal conditions,
30:54the outline
30:55of an enemy ship
30:55can be seen
30:56up to 30 kilometers away.
30:59Nevertheless,
31:00at 1,000 kilometers,
31:01long and 600 kilometers wide,
31:03there is a lot of room
31:04to hide a fleet
31:05in the North Sea.
31:08But it is coincidence
31:10that brings the fleets together.
31:11A passing Danish fishing boat
31:15was sighted
31:16by both the Royal Navy
31:17and the Imperial German Navy.
31:19Each fleet
31:20decided to check it out.
31:22When they approached,
31:22they found themselves
31:23face to face
31:24with one another.
31:26Shortly after 5.30 p.m.,
31:28the German lookout
31:29spot the British squadron.
31:32Moments later,
31:34Rupert Berger
31:34hears the alert sound
31:35on the bridge.
31:41I had just climbed up
31:42on deck
31:42when the battle stations
31:43were sounded
31:44across the ship.
31:45Enemy in sight.
31:47But for us,
31:48they were still
31:48out of range.
31:52Calculate firing distance.
31:54The Germans,
31:55like the British,
31:56have powerful rangefinders,
31:58instruments composed
31:59of two telescopes
32:00several meters apart.
32:01The rangefinder
32:06is a giant pair
32:07of binoculars
32:08or a giant telescope.
32:09Collect data.
32:11From that data,
32:12you can estimate
32:12how far away
32:13the target is
32:14and what speed it's doing
32:15and maybe what course
32:16it's traveling.
32:19Viewed through the eyepiece,
32:20the two images
32:21of the target are split.
32:23All the operator
32:24has to do
32:25is turn the device's dial
32:26until the two images merge.
32:29The rangefinder
32:30then indicates
32:31the distance
32:32from the target.
32:34The gunners
32:35use this information
32:36to aim with extreme precision
32:38before firing.
32:45It is precisely 6.43 a.m.
32:47We have just fired
32:49our first salvo.
32:51The German plan works.
32:54The high seas fleet
32:55has indeed managed
32:55to take an English squadron
32:57by surprise.
32:5822 German dreadnoughts
33:00and battlecruisers
33:01open fire.
33:03The British only have
33:04four dreadnoughts
33:05and six lightly
33:05armored battlecruisers.
33:08It was not easy
33:09to sink a battleship.
33:10It really wasn't.
33:12But to sink
33:13a battlecruiser,
33:15one lucky shot.
33:19In one day,
33:21the commander
33:22of the British
33:23battlecruiser fleet
33:24lost half of them.
33:26Half of them,
33:30boom,
33:31they blew up
33:32in seconds.
33:37What he said
33:38after the second one went,
33:40he said,
33:40there seems to be
33:41something wrong
33:42with our bloody ships today.
33:46For the German ships,
33:48victory seems within reach.
33:50They know that this is
33:50the battle for which
33:51their ships were built,
33:52for which they were trained.
33:53soon,
33:57the smoke from their cannons
33:58is so thick
33:59that they can hardly see.
34:01But as the German ships
34:02emerge from this smoke,
34:04the sailors see more
34:05British ships
34:06on the horizon.
34:08Many,
34:09many more.
34:11Suddenly,
34:11heavy artillery fire.
34:13Left and right,
34:14in front and behind us.
34:15Heavy grenade impacts.
34:17We could only see the enemy
34:18by their muzzle flashes.
34:20Somehow,
34:20the whole fleet
34:21had joined the battle.
34:23And that's the point
34:25where it starts to go wrong
34:26for the Germans
34:27because for all the damage
34:28they're doing,
34:29and they are doing
34:29a lot of damage
34:30to the British fleet,
34:32when they see
34:34the full might
34:36of the Grand Fleet,
34:37that numbers game
34:39comes into play again
34:40and they realise
34:41that it's a battle
34:42they absolutely cannot win.
34:52The Germans have no choice
34:53but to flee into the twilight
34:55and to hope that night
34:57falls swiftly enough
34:58to keep them safe
34:59out of the sights
35:00of the British gunners.
35:04When dawn breaks,
35:06they are long gone.
35:07Back on land,
35:12the Germans claim victory.
35:14They sank more ships
35:15than they lost.
35:17This is true,
35:18but it doesn't acknowledge
35:19the Royal Navy
35:20has enough ships
35:21to absorb their losses,
35:22and then some.
35:24The Germans' attempt
35:25to turn the tide
35:26of the war
35:27has failed.
35:28The plan was as good
35:29a plan as they could devise.
35:31It's just not good enough.
35:33There's no better opportunity.
35:34There's nothing else
35:35they could have done.
35:35They did everything
35:36they could have done
35:37to try and make it work.
35:39They just don't have
35:40the numbers.
35:42The decisive battle
35:43had been a failure.
35:45The Royal Navy
35:45failed to destroy
35:47the Imperial German Navy,
35:49which had attacked
35:49the Royal Navy
35:50but likewise
35:51failed to destroy
35:53or weaken its adversary.
35:55What was left?
35:57All-out submarine warfare.
36:01Where surface ships
36:02had failed,
36:03it is possible
36:04U-boats could succeed.
36:06By the end of 1916,
36:08in just 10 months,
36:09Lothar de la Perrière alone
36:11has sunk 121 merchant ships
36:13in the Mediterranean.
36:15He is now an expert
36:17at spotting ships
36:18used by the Allies
36:19to illicitly transport soldiers
36:21or war material.
36:22on October 16th,
36:25on October 16th,
36:26a French steamship
36:27crosses his path.
36:29It was beautiful that day
36:30south of Sardinia.
36:32We were about to sit down
36:33for a Sunday coffee
36:34when I was informed
36:36that a large three-funnel steamboat
36:37had been spotted.
36:44U-35 is not allowed to attack,
36:46only cautiously approach ships
36:48to search them
36:49and look for anything suspicious.
36:56My gut feeling
36:57was that this was
36:58a personnel carrier.
37:04Fire torpedo!
37:07Everyone aboard
37:08held their breath.
37:09His intuition was right.
37:28SS Gallia is carrying
37:302,350 French
37:32and Serbian soldiers
37:33and crew.
37:34More than 600 of them drown.
37:36It is the third greatest loss
37:39of life at sea
37:40during the war.
37:42Lothar,
37:43who was filmed
37:43for propaganda purposes,
37:45is hailed as a hero.
37:50On February 1st, 1917,
37:53German High Command
37:54announces the resumption
37:55of all-out submarine warfare.
37:59From this point on,
38:00German submarines
38:01will indiscriminately
38:02and without warning
38:03sink any ships
38:05bound for Britain.
38:06Taking a page
38:08from the enemy's playbook,
38:09they hope to starve
38:10Britain into ending the war.
38:12It was a gamble
38:13in 1917.
38:15Can we take England out
38:17before the United States
38:19not enters the war,
38:21but gets enough troops
38:22over here
38:22to make a difference?
38:24And the decision was
38:26we got to try.
38:30We much prefer
38:32to fight against warships,
38:33but the destruction
38:34of enemy merchant ships
38:35is infinitely more useful
38:37to the achievement
38:37of our success.
38:40In four weeks,
38:42we have sunk 56 of them.
38:51The resumption
38:52of all-out submarine warfare
38:53unleashes a huge wave
38:54of protests
38:55in the United States.
38:56But President Woodrow Wilson
38:59is reluctant
38:59to fully commit
39:00his country.
39:02He decides to secretly
39:03send one of his best
39:04admirals to London,
39:06a man named
39:07William Sims.
39:12I was directed
39:13to sail on a merchant vessel
39:15to travel under
39:16unassumed name.
39:18Reaching the other side,
39:19I was to immediately
39:20send to Washington
39:21detailed reports
39:22on prevailing conditions.
39:27The American admiral
39:29quickly realizes
39:29just how dangerous
39:30the Atlantic crossing is.
39:33German submarines
39:34are by now sinking
39:35a quarter
39:36of all British-bound shipping.
39:41It became clear
39:42that the Germans
39:42were not losing the war,
39:43they were winning it.
39:45Unless the appalling
39:46destruction of merchant shipping
39:47could be checked,
39:48the unconditional surrender
39:50of the British Empire
39:51would inevitably
39:51take place
39:52within a few months.
39:57In 1917,
39:58German submarines
39:59were sinking ships
40:01at a faster rate
40:02than the British
40:03could build them.
40:05On April 6th,
40:07the United States
40:07finally declares
40:08war on Germany.
40:10But Sims is worried
40:11his country might be
40:12on the losing side.
40:14But when thinking
40:15about how to neutralize
40:16German U-boats,
40:17he realizes
40:18the solution
40:19is already there.
40:28The German submarines
40:29had been attempting
40:30to sink great battleships
40:31one by one.
40:33Had this pretentious scheme
40:34succeeded?
40:36The fact was
40:37that the submarines
40:37had not destroyed
40:38a single dreadnought.
40:45British dreadnoughts
40:46are mighty battleships,
40:47but they are never alone
40:49at sea.
40:50Instead,
40:51they are always escorted
40:52by destroyers.
40:54What these smaller ships
40:55lack in size,
40:56they make up for in speed.
40:58Destroyers are well-armed,
41:00they're fast,
41:00they can both protect
41:01the convoy
41:02and they can hunt
41:03a submarine
41:03and they can move
41:05around that convoy
41:06and respond to a target
41:07very quickly.
41:08destroyers can reach speeds
41:12of over 35 knots
41:13or nearly 70 kilometers
41:15an hour.
41:17This is more than twice
41:18as fast as German U-boats.
41:21Once a U-boat is spotted
41:22on the surface,
41:23a destroyer can reach
41:24its target
41:25in an incredibly short time.
41:27And if the U-boat
41:28dives to escape,
41:29destroyers have a weapon
41:30for that,
41:31depth charges.
41:32A depth charge
41:37is dropped into the water
41:38and set to explode
41:40at the depth
41:40where the submarine lurks,
41:4230, 40 or 50 meters down.
41:45It is dropped into the water
41:46in the vicinity
41:47of the submarine
41:48and then 40 to 45 meters down,
41:51it explodes.
42:00Depth charges are bombs
42:01that explode underwater.
42:03Their firing mechanism
42:04is set to a pre-selected depth.
42:07Once that is reached,
42:08it detonates.
42:09The depth charge
42:10doesn't have to actually
42:11hit the submarine.
42:14The shockwave
42:15from the blast alone
42:16can sever power lines
42:18on board
42:18or cause the sub to leak.
42:23For a submarine crew,
42:24a hole in the hull
42:25means they are doomed to sink.
42:26The American Admiral Sims
42:34does some calculations.
42:36The English have 200 destroyers
42:38to protect at least
42:391,000 merchant ships
42:40every month.
42:42It isn't enough.
42:44Then Sims has an idea.
42:53Battleships proceed
42:54in a close formation
42:55or convoy.
42:56Why not apply
42:57this same principle
42:57to merchant ships?
42:59If destroyers
43:00can keep the submarines
43:00away from battleship convoys,
43:02they can do the same
43:03with convoys of merchant ships.
43:09By clustering
43:10merchant ships together,
43:11Sims hopes to reduce
43:13their chances
43:13of being found
43:14by German U-boats.
43:16Convoys are hard to find.
43:17The ocean's a big place.
43:19Finding a needle
43:20in a haystack
43:21is very hard.
43:24Finding a thimble
43:25in a haystack
43:26is not that much easier.
43:31From the first ship
43:32to the last ship,
43:35convoys extend
43:35over 20 kilometers.
43:38This is a mere speck
43:39in the North Atlantic,
43:40which is 3,000 kilometers wide.
43:48The first of these convoys
43:49sailed in May 1917.
43:52It gets through
43:52without losses.
43:54Thanks to the convoys,
43:56within three months,
43:57losses of merchant ships
43:58fall by almost three quarters.
44:02The German move
44:03to win the war at sea
44:04has failed.
44:05And worse still,
44:07it has made
44:07the United States an enemy.
44:10A year and a half later,
44:15in October 1918,
44:16the German Admiralty
44:18orders its fleet
44:19to leave port
44:20for a final,
44:21do-or-die offensive.
44:22But the German sailors
44:23are no fools.
44:26They know there are no match
44:28for the Royal Navy.
44:29They know it is a suicide mission.
44:31A whisper went through the ship.
44:37This time,
44:38we're all going to die.
44:39Every last man.
44:40No one will come back alive.
44:42It's incomprehensible.
44:43I didn't come through
44:44four years of war
44:45only to be blown to bits now.
44:52German sailors
44:53refuse to die
44:54for a lost cause.
44:55Within days,
44:58they take over
44:59first their ships,
45:00then the naval bases.
45:02The uprising spreads
45:04at breakneck speed
45:05and becomes a revolution.
45:12On November 8, 1918,
45:14the German government
45:15requests an armistice.
45:17The victors
45:17impose strict conditions.
45:18For the British,
45:22the German fleet
45:23is the cause of the war.
45:25It's the single
45:27most important
45:27cause of the war
45:29for the British.
45:29It was the single thing
45:30that they wanted to deal with.
45:33With an armistice in place,
45:35German sailors
45:35prepare their ships
45:36for departure.
45:38Not for home,
45:40but for Scotland
45:40and internment.
45:48We're one of the ships
45:50that will be interned.
45:51If we haven't left port
45:53by the morning
45:53of November 18,
45:54England will occupy
45:56Helgoland, Kiel
45:57and Hamburg.
45:59As to whether
45:59we will get our ships back,
46:01that's the big question.
46:06The German high seas fleet
46:08goes on its last voyage
46:09to Scapa Flow in Scotland.
46:13Here, under the guns
46:14of the Royal Navy,
46:15the German sailors
46:16await their fate.
46:18Winning the war
46:19had not been in the cards
46:20for them.
46:21But they would have
46:22one last chance
46:23to go down in history.
46:27For Rupert Berger,
46:29the war is over.
46:31He would go on
46:32to serve in the next.
46:35Maxime Leboeuf
46:36continues to build submarines.
46:40Lothar de la Perrière
46:41rises to admiral
46:42in Hitler's Kriegsmarine.
46:45William Sims
46:46became the only
46:46naval career officer
46:48to win a Pulitzer
46:48surprise.
46:50And John Fisher
46:51spent the war
46:53chairing a Royal Navy
46:54committee on
46:54inventions and research.
46:56Anders'
47:04go back to him
47:05and learn
47:05to do
47:07in the wind
47:09together.
47:10bit vy
47:15okay.
47:15keep itony
47:16right here.
47:17Hasn't więcej
47:17been
47:17done
47:18again.
47:19I'm Sidon,
47:21dis80,
47:22we're
47:23going to infrast ¡VIS
47:23feet to년 nuestros
47:24photos,
47:24even.................越
47:25Gracias por ver el video.
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