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00:50This is one of the last surviving U-boats in the world.
00:55Standing sadly in a quiet corner of Birkenhead docks Liverpool,
01:00U-534 presents a melancholy sight,
01:04a ghost of the menacing craft which once hunted with the deadly wolf packs.
01:09We can still clearly see the impact of the marks left by the depth charges,
01:15which sank her on the second last day of World War II.
01:21U-534 was hit on the surface by British depth charge,
01:26which lodged in the conning tower and then exploded, rendering the ship impotent.
01:32A second depth charge blew in the side of the craft.
01:37Fortunately, all of the crew escaped the sinking.
01:42Although three crew members later died of exposure,
01:46U-534 was not designated as a war grave.
01:50So 50 years after her sinking, she was salvaged and brought to the surface.
02:02Ironically, she was taken to England to rest in the home of her greatest enemy.
02:12Today, for the first time, a camera crew is being allowed to film inside the U-534.
02:2150 years on the seabed have taken their toll on the U-534,
02:26but the main features are unmistakable.
02:31These are the deadly torpedo tubes, which once spelt death for Allied ships.
02:37And this is the one toilet, which had to serve the needs of 50 men on board.
02:44The ravages of time and tide have given the interior of U-534 a fantastic quality.
02:52The tangle of steel and equipment looks almost like a piece of modern avant-garde art,
02:58but with a little imagination, it is not too difficult to roll back the years
03:04to the glory days of the early 1940s,
03:07when ships like the U-534 were masters of the Atlantic.
03:35When U-534 settled on the muddy bed of the ocean,
03:39a covering of Baltic silt accumulated around the wreck
03:43as she lay forgotten on the seafloor.
03:46Over the years, the silt crept into the ship and formed a protective layer.
03:54In this way, the treasures of the World War II were preserved as if in aspic.
04:00Pencil notes in logbooks can still be read.
04:04The Enigma encoding machine survived intact.
04:08Discarded uniforms, gramophone records, books and food stocks
04:13can still be seen as if it were yesterday.
04:17Most eerily of all, when she was raised,
04:22the Kriegsmarine battle flag still hung limply from her masthead.
04:30U-534 was a Type 9 German U-boat.
04:35The Type 9s were quite a large submarine.
04:40They actually varied in length and size as the war progressed.
04:46About 1,500 tonnes, but very long range, about 12,000 miles,
04:52which meant they could go a long way.
04:57And really, they could stay at sea as long as their food lasted.
05:02She was actually a weather submarine.
05:04We used to operate up from Iceland down to the Azores.
05:08Near the end of the war, she started moving to Japan and back,
05:11bringing stores, things like rubber, that they couldn't get in Germany.
05:15Near the end of the war, she was taken in to Poland
05:19under the orders of the SS in a place called Stetton.
05:23She then sailed to Kiel, where a crew was put on board her, a crew of 52.
05:29On the 4th of May, Donuts told all these submarines to pack a colour of the day.
05:34She didn't.
05:35She was the last boat to leave Kiel, leaving on the 3rd of May 45,
05:39and the briefing given to the captain was to remove his boat out into the Kattegat
05:43and to submerge on the points of Helsingor and Helsingbor,
05:47and there to await final instructions coming through.
05:50But as the surviving crewmen on board have said,
05:52at the time they were junior rates,
05:54so they were kept out of the idea of the final instructions.
05:57But what is known is it was going to be a special mission.
06:00And very much the boat was going to be running towards Norway, Kristiansand.
06:04There she was to offload the spares that the boat was carrying,
06:07and more importantly, the crew were to prepare the boat for a human cargo.
06:11She was also carrying with her an Argentinian radio operator.
06:16By the facts that it was inside the boat and the information coming through,
06:19it looks as though she was destined bound for Argentina.
06:24On the 5th of May, she surfaced, and she was attacked by two RAF liberators.
06:29She shot one down, the other one sank her.
06:33Three men died, and all the rest escaped.
06:37When the submarine started to sink, every hatch was utilised.
06:41So five chaps found themselves up here in the front of the torpedo compartment.
06:46Now, when it settled on the bottom,
06:48they realised the only way to get out the compartment was to open the top hatch,
06:52which was the torpedo hatch.
06:54So they realised they had to flood the compartment to equalise the pressure.
06:58So they flooded the compartment, and the top hatch opened.
07:02Now, the eldest was the chef who was 18-year-old,
07:05and he told them, whatever you do, don't go up too fast.
07:08But one chap wouldn't listen, and he died on the way up.
07:10But the other four chaps survived.
07:13And this is the actual compartment where they escaped from.
07:19For centuries, men had been fascinated by the possibility of underwater vessels.
07:31Submersion beneath the sea was the obvious means by which a warship could be approached
07:37and attacked without detection.
07:40But until 1776, such schemes had proved to be simply pipe dreams.
07:47It's not a joke,
07:48but to do justice to the earliest attempt to create a fighting submersible
07:53would require a comic genius.
07:57During the American War of Independence,
07:59the very first submarine appeared in conflict.
08:03The turtle was no more than a waterproof egg
08:07held upright by 700 pounds of ballast at its base.
08:12The means of propulsion was a manually driven screw.
08:16The sole occupant observed progress from a porthole
08:20and steered by means of a rudder held under his arm.
08:25He had enough air for 30 minutes of frantic activity
08:28once the turtle was sealed.
08:31The turtle was designed by a chap called Bushnell.
08:36And they say at the time it looked like two turtle shells joined together.
08:41But in essence, it looked like a large Easter egg with a dome on the top.
08:46She had two propellers, one to take her up and down,
08:49another propeller to take her forward and back.
08:52And they were both used by hand.
08:53It was one man operated.
08:56And to dive, he would put his foot on a pedal and open a flooding valve.
09:00And the ballast tanks were actually below the craft.
09:03And it could dive down to 10 feet.
09:05Now it also carried on its back 150 pound of gunpowder.
09:09And what he would do is he would dive down, go underneath the target,
09:14surface again, and then screw a screw underneath the target,
09:19release the gunpowder, and it would go underneath the target again,
09:22and then he would sail off.
09:24He had two air vents to let air into the submarine.
09:27And once it was dived, the turtle had air for, say, half an hour.
09:31After that, he would seriously think of coming to the surface.
09:34In August 1776, during the American War of Independence,
09:39the British were blockading New York Harbor,
09:42and the 64-gun flagship of Admiral Earl Howe, HMS Eagle,
09:47was riding at anchor in the mouth of the river.
09:51She would go down in history as the first target of a submarine attack.
09:58The intrepid Sergeant Lee of the Patriot Army,
10:02under cover of darkness,
10:04bogged and drifted towards the Eagle,
10:06and the scene was set for the birth of submarine warfare.
10:10Well, he got underneath Eagle,
10:13but he spent about 30 minutes, poor chap,
10:16operating his core screw into just about the only bit of metal on Eagle,
10:21which was the transom that connected the hull to the rudder.
10:25And after 30 minutes, I mean, he was obviously getting quite tired
10:28and using up his oxygen and all these sort of perils
10:31that future submariners would face,
10:33and decided to make good his escape.
10:36And also, the fuse on his clockwork mine was ticking off.
10:40So out he popped and was spotted by the British in a rowing boat,
10:47and they made chase.
10:50So Ezra Lee slipped his mind,
10:53it went bang,
10:54and in the confusion,
10:56and off he went.
10:58So in tactical terms, he'd failed.
11:01He did not sink Eagle.
11:04But in strategic terms, he succeeded,
11:07because the Bricks had no idea what this huge explosion was,
11:11and, indeed, he did weaken the blockade.
11:16I think Ezra Lee was a dedicated man
11:19and a real pioneer,
11:21a very brave man.
11:22He was going into the unknown.
11:26But, um...
11:28Now, the world's first submariner
11:30who went into war
11:32must have been an extraordinary character.
11:35The first successful submarine attack
11:38would have to wait for nearly 100 years
11:41until the time of the American Civil War.
11:44On October 5th, 1863,
11:48the USS New Ironsides,
11:51a 3,500-ton United States Navy ship,
11:55found itself under attack
11:57from a steam-powered semi-submersible.
12:00The David, or cigar boat as she was known,
12:05had a 134-pound explosive charge
12:08at the end of a long spar
12:10attached to her bows.
12:13The explosion caused several leaks,
12:16but did little serious damage
12:18to the hull of the Navy ship.
12:20The David wasn't actually a submarine.
12:22It was submersible.
12:24It was only trimmed down to the upper deck,
12:27and it was steam-driven,
12:29and it would show the funnel
12:31and it would show a little hatch,
12:32viewing hatch.
12:33And from a distance,
12:34it would look like a log.
12:36But, in essence,
12:37they weren't submarines.
12:38They were actually submersibles.
12:40Now, they would attack...
12:41On the front of them,
12:42they had a 20-foot spar,
12:44and on the end of it,
12:45they had 135 pounds of gunpowder
12:47and had seven chemical detonators.
12:50And what they would do,
12:51believe it or not,
12:52they would run at the target,
12:55ram the target,
12:56and it would explode.
12:57And they just hoped
12:58that they would survive,
13:00but they never did.
13:01Encouraged by the success of the David,
13:04a wealthy engineer from Alabama,
13:06Horace Hundley,
13:07put up the money
13:09to build the first
13:09privately operated submarine,
13:11The 34-foot Pioneer.
13:16This odd creation
13:17was powered by three men
13:19driving a crank by hand.
13:22In theory,
13:23it shouldn't have worked,
13:24and in practice,
13:26it didn't either.
13:28It was not until February 17th, 1864,
13:33that the first surface ship
13:34was sunk by a submarine.
13:36The unfortunate victim
13:38was the USS Housatonic.
13:42She was attacked
13:43by the Confederate submarine Hundley.
13:47This extraordinary craft
13:49was another of Horace Hundley's creations.
13:53That the Hundley ever reached
13:55the point of mounting an attack
13:57is remarkable in itself.
14:00In the course of development
14:02and testing,
14:03it had been sunk
14:04and recovered no less than five times,
14:06and 41 crew members
14:09had been drowned,
14:10including the designer
14:12Horace Hundley himself.
14:14The Hundley
14:15was a 42-inch diameter boiler tube
14:20inside which was a crank shaft,
14:23which was powered by eight men.
14:27And she also had a captain,
14:29a man who sort of stared
14:30out of his window at the front.
14:33And her weapon
14:34was a 25-foot-long pole
14:37that was attached
14:39to the front of the craft,
14:41and at the end of that
14:42was 100 pounds of gunpowder
14:44plus a harpoon.
14:47And the principle was
14:48you raised up your speed,
14:52steered for your target,
14:54rammed the harpoon
14:55into the side of your target,
14:57and then you backed off.
14:58And as you backed off,
15:01that tightened a rope
15:03which eventually operated the fuse,
15:06and the whole thing went back.
15:08Unfortunately for the Hundley,
15:11her explosive hit
15:12the magazine of USS Housatonic.
15:17There was a premature explosion,
15:19to say the least,
15:20and unfortunately that caused
15:23the demise of the Hundley,
15:25as well as the Housatonic.
15:27However, what we'd seen
15:29was the first successful attack
15:32by a submarine
15:33on another warship, 1864.
15:36It was clear that submarines
15:38would all go the way
15:40of the Hundley.
15:42But a weapon system
15:43had been found
15:44that would keep the submarine
15:46clear from the force
15:47of the explosion.
15:49In 1870,
15:51a Lancastrian engineer,
15:53Robert Whitehead,
15:54working for the Austrian Navy,
15:56presented the first
15:57self-propelled torpedo.
16:00The means of propulsion
16:02was compressed air,
16:03and it had a primitive
16:04but effective
16:06steering mechanism.
16:07It proved to be the prototype
16:10of every torpedo to follow.
16:13At last,
16:15ships could be attacked
16:16from a safe distance.
16:18The submarine
16:19now had its teeth.
16:23Whitehead probably cost the world
16:25more than any other man
16:28in history.
16:30It was that important.
16:32The invention
16:33of the locomotive torpedo
16:36unlocked the potential
16:37of the submarine.
16:41And the submarine
16:42became the platform
16:44that's had the greatest influence
16:46on maritime warfare
16:47probably ever.
16:50And so that's how important
16:52his invention was.
16:53But nevertheless,
16:54it was a very short range,
16:56and of course,
16:56at the end of it,
16:57there was a very small
16:59warhead,
17:00about 25 pounds
17:01of gunpowder.
17:03And the range
17:05was quite short,
17:06about 300 yards.
17:08Speed was quite slow,
17:10about 6 knots.
17:12His greatest difficulty
17:15was actually keeping it
17:16in a straight line,
17:19because they did tend
17:20to wander.
17:22But what it did actually
17:24was unlock the potential
17:27of this underwater craft
17:29as a weapon of war.
17:33Although submarines
17:34now had an effective
17:35means of attack,
17:37the problem of moving
17:38efficiently and safely
17:40beneath the surface
17:41still remained.
17:42The principles
17:43on which a submarine works
17:45haven't changed
17:46in umpteen centuries.
17:48A submarine has got
17:50a certain volume,
17:52and that volume
17:53displaces so much water,
17:55and that volume of water
17:57weighs so much.
17:58If the total weight
18:00of the submarine
18:01is greater
18:02than the weight
18:03of the water
18:03it displaces,
18:04it sinks.
18:05If the weight
18:06of the submarine
18:07is less than the weight
18:09of the water
18:09it displaces,
18:10it comes to the surface again.
18:12And the ideal thing
18:13is to keep
18:14the weight
18:15of the submarine
18:16exactly the same
18:17as the weight
18:18of water it displaces.
18:19Now you alter
18:20the weight
18:21of a submarine
18:22by pumping in
18:23or pumping out
18:25water
18:26into what are called
18:27the ballast tanks.
18:28And when a submarine
18:30is on the surface,
18:31then the ballast tanks
18:33are empty.
18:34And to let,
18:36or to make
18:36the submarine dive,
18:38what you do
18:38is open a valve
18:39in the top
18:40of the ballast tanks,
18:40and the pressure
18:41of the water
18:42at the bottom,
18:43because the ballast tanks
18:44at the bottom
18:45are open,
18:46the pressure
18:46of the water
18:47down there
18:47forces the air
18:48out through the top
18:50of the ballast tanks.
18:51And as the tanks
18:52fill up,
18:53then the whole submarine
18:54becomes heavier
18:55and it gradually
18:56just goes down
18:58underneath the water.
19:00And you catch a trim,
19:02is the expression,
19:04when you have just got
19:05neutral buoyancy
19:06with the submarine
19:07weighing as much
19:08as the water
19:09it displaces.
19:11Once the vessel
19:13is underwater,
19:13however,
19:14it needs to be able
19:16to travel beneath
19:16the waves.
19:18Early submarines,
19:20like the Turtle,
19:21were powered by oars
19:23and later propellers
19:24driven directly
19:25by the strength
19:26of human arms.
19:28As the 19th century
19:30drew to a close,
19:31a variety of propulsion
19:33systems were tried.
19:34manpower,
19:36clockwork,
19:37compressed air
19:38and,
19:39somewhat incongruously,
19:41steam.
19:45The essential problem
19:47for powering submarines
19:48is that most engines
19:50are designed
19:50to burn fuel.
19:52Naturally,
19:53the burning process
19:55requires oxygen
19:56as well as fuel.
19:57Running a conventional
19:59engine in a sealed
20:00pressure hull
20:01underwater
20:01quickly burned up
20:03all the available oxygen.
20:05Of course,
20:07the crew also need
20:08oxygen to breathe
20:09and they would suffocate
20:11as soon as the engine
20:12had consumed the oxygen
20:14inside the craft.
20:22Well, the diesel engine
20:24for submarines
20:24invented by the Russians
20:25in 1906.
20:27Now, you've got to be
20:28on the surface
20:28to use your diesel engines
20:30for the simple reasons
20:31they need to breathe.
20:33Just like a normal car
20:34and it needs to breathe.
20:36Now, in the 1940s,
20:38they brought the
20:38snorkel-inducement mast in
20:39or, as the Germans say,
20:40the snorkel.
20:45A submarine can dive
20:47down to 30 feet,
20:48throw your snorkel up
20:49and they can breathe
20:49that way.
20:51The only problem then
20:52is if it's stuff outside
20:53and you get, say,
20:55a wave into the
20:55snorkel-inducement mast,
20:56it shuts the flap
20:58and the engines
20:59then suck the air
20:59up the submarine
21:00because they've got
21:01to breathe.
21:03The solution
21:04to the problem
21:05of submarine power
21:06was brilliantly schemed
21:08by John Holland,
21:09the father
21:10of the modern submarine.
21:12It was Holland
21:14who pioneered
21:15the concept
21:16which was to lead
21:17to submarines
21:17becoming the effective
21:19weapons of war
21:20that they are today.
21:27At the turn
21:28of the 19th century,
21:29the development
21:30of battery-powered
21:32electric motors
21:32for underwater use
21:34meant that submarines
21:36could be taken seriously.
21:39Here was a form
21:40of power
21:41which didn't burn fuel
21:43and therefore
21:44didn't use up
21:45all of the available oxygen.
21:47The result
21:49was HMS Holland,
21:51the first
21:52true submarine.
21:55At the birth
21:56of the 20th century,
21:58the British Navy
21:59cautiously accepted
22:00delivery
22:01of a small submarine.
22:03Holland 1
22:04was built
22:05under licence
22:06by Vickers
22:07and was the product
22:08of 25 years
22:10of painstaking research
22:11by John Holland.
22:13With the advent
22:14of the electric motor,
22:16Holland had finally
22:17found a means
22:18of propulsion
22:19underwater
22:20without creating conditions
22:22impossible
22:23for the crew.
22:25Holland 1
22:26was the world's
22:27first practical
22:28submarine.
22:30Her shape
22:31was quite revolutionary.
22:33She's shaped
22:34like a mini whale.
22:36That should come
22:37as no surprise
22:37really
22:38because a submarine
22:39in fact
22:40is a mechanical whale.
22:43But her shape,
22:44her length
22:45to beam ratio
22:46was about 7 to 1
22:47which is
22:48sort of ideal
22:49for control.
22:50She could be
22:52controlled
22:52quite easily
22:53and that
22:54had never happened
22:54before
22:55to have
22:55a streamlined shape
22:56and in fact
22:58her shape
22:59went out of
23:01fashion
23:01for a while
23:02but was reintroduced
23:03really when we
23:04started looking
23:05at nuclear power.
23:06What was the best shape
23:08and the most efficient shape
23:09for a submarine
23:10to be driven
23:10through the sea?
23:12And if you look
23:13at the Holland
23:13design
23:15that's what you have.
23:16She had
23:17a single internal
23:18torpedo tube.
23:20She had
23:20quite a decent battery
23:22consisting of
23:2335 cells
23:26and she had
23:27a four-cylinder
23:28petrol engine
23:30so she had
23:31all the
23:34basic
23:34concepts
23:36of the submarine
23:37as we know it today
23:38and at the time
23:40she was really
23:41quite revolutionary
23:41in her design.
23:43On the surface
23:44the Holland submarine
23:46was powered
23:47by a petrol engine.
23:49When submerged
23:50the submarine
23:51was powered
23:51by an electric motor.
23:53The electric batteries
23:55were recharged
23:56by a generator
23:57driven by the
23:58petrol engine
23:59when the submarine
24:00was on the surface.
24:03In time
24:04the petrol engine
24:06gave way
24:06to diesel
24:07but
24:08until the age
24:09of nuclear power
24:10all submarines
24:12would follow
24:12this pattern.
24:14Holland's design
24:16also incorporated
24:17large hydroplanes
24:19mounted on the boat's stern.
24:22When tilted
24:23this allowed
24:25the submarine
24:25to dive
24:26under its own power
24:27returning the hydroplanes
24:29to a level position
24:30also leveled off
24:32the submarine.
24:33The hydroplanes
24:35could also be used
24:36to maneuver
24:37the submarine
24:38either up
24:39or further down.
24:40They are still used
24:42today.
24:49In 1914
24:50the nations
24:52of Europe
24:52descended
24:53into the chaos
24:54of outright
24:55warfare.
24:57The submarine
24:58was rapidly
24:59assimilated
25:00into Germany's
25:01strategy for war.
25:03For German submarines
25:05the war plan
25:06was simple.
25:08All-out attack
25:09on the vital
25:10Allied merchant
25:11flits
25:12to starve
25:13Britain
25:13of the means
25:14to wage war.
25:16Throughout the
25:18First World War
25:18a succession
25:20of submarines
25:21was produced
25:22from the German
25:23naval dockyards.
25:25Each one
25:26was an improvement
25:27on the last
25:28with greater speed
25:29longer range
25:31greater submerged
25:32endurance
25:33bigger and more
25:35accurate torpedoes
25:36and stronger
25:37deck armament.
25:39In this new
25:40technological war
25:42the Germans
25:43had another
25:44vital asset
25:45a great tradition
25:47in optics.
25:48German periscopes
25:50were optically
25:51far superior.
25:54The Royal Navy
25:55found out
25:55the very hard way
25:57very early on
25:58just how effective
25:59the U-boats were
26:00when the U-9
26:01sank three
26:02elderly British cruisers
26:04in the lower part
26:05of the North Sea
26:06right at the start
26:07of the war.
26:09But having said that
26:10the U-boat fleet
26:12didn't actually
26:14affect the operations
26:15of the Navy
26:16to any great extent.
26:18We were nervous
26:20if you like
26:20about the abilities
26:22of the U-boats
26:23but the Grand Fleet
26:25in the North Sea
26:26carried out its sweeps
26:27more or less
26:28without worrying
26:30about whether or not
26:31the U-boats were there.
26:32Where the U-boat
26:33proved itself
26:34to be a most effective
26:35weapon was
26:36in the war
26:37against trade.
26:38and in 1917
26:40the German U-boat fleet
26:42very nearly
26:42starved Britain
26:44into perhaps
26:46surrender
26:47who knows
26:48but at all events
26:49the situation
26:50in April 1917
26:52had got
26:52to crisis point
26:54with U-boats
26:55sinking
26:55more ships
26:56merchant ships
26:57than were being built.
26:59Britain was ill prepared
27:01for the U-boat onslaught
27:03but there was
27:04an Achilles heel.
27:07Because they carried
27:08only a limited number
27:09of torpedoes
27:11and travelled so slowly
27:12under the water
27:13U-boats had to surface
27:15to make their attacks
27:16with their deck guns
27:18and they were vulnerable
27:19on the surface.
27:22The most effective tactic
27:24for British ships
27:25was to ram the submarines
27:26which could take
27:28up to five minutes
27:29to dive.
27:31The downfall
27:32of the U-boats
27:33came when
27:33the Allies
27:34decided to integrate
27:35the convoy system.
27:37The U-boats
27:38operating independently
27:39chasing after
27:40the lone merchantman
27:41had great success
27:42but now the vast oceans
27:43were very barren
27:44for the idea
27:45that boats
27:46were now congregated
27:47in a convoy.
27:48When the U-boats
27:49did finally find
27:50a convoy
27:51now they had to go
27:52to the escorts
27:53rather than
27:53the other way around
27:54and the depth charges
27:55were proven
27:56effective weapon.
27:56so our merchant
27:58shipping losses
27:58decreased
27:59U-boat losses
28:00very seriously
28:01increased.
28:03Already
28:04the pattern
28:05had been set
28:06for the next war
28:07when the battle
28:08between the convoy
28:09and the submarine
28:10would be fought
28:11to a conclusion.
28:26When Germany
28:27had re-armed
28:28it was not
28:30the imperial eagle
28:31which flew
28:32above the fatherland
28:33but the Nazi swastika.
28:37Adolf Hitler
28:37now led
28:39the German people
28:40steadily towards
28:41his war
28:42of vengeance
28:42and conquest.
28:46In Hitler's
28:48grand design
28:49a resurrected U-boat force
28:51was to play
28:52a deadly
28:52and vital
28:53role.
28:55A new generation
28:56of German submarines
28:58rolled from the slipways
29:00in recognition
29:01that the old enemy
29:02Britain must be faced.
29:05The British navy
29:06was too strong
29:07to be confronted.
29:09Britain
29:10would have to be
29:11starved into submission.
29:13The weapon
29:14for the task
29:15as in the last war
29:17was to be
29:18the submarine.
29:20The newly appointed
29:22commander
29:22of the force
29:23was Admiral
29:24Karl Dönitz
29:25a veteran submariner
29:27from the first war.
29:30Dönitz
29:30was a brilliant
29:31organizer
29:32who was to
29:33revolutionize
29:34submarine warfare.
29:36In September
29:381939
29:38when war erupted
29:40Dönitz
29:41had 57 U-boats
29:43only a fraction
29:44of those
29:45Hitler had promised.
29:47Nonetheless
29:48the U-boats
29:49already at sea
29:50struck the first blows
29:52in the sea war
29:53that would rage
29:54for five years.
29:57Even at this
29:58early stage
29:59it was obvious
30:00that Germany
30:01could not hope
30:02to win the naval war.
30:04Admiral Erich Rieder
30:06Dönitz's superior
30:07wearily surveyed
30:09the odds
30:10and announced
30:11prophetically
30:11to his commanders
30:12gentlemen
30:14we have no choice.
30:16total engagement
30:18die with dignity.
30:21But the U-boat fleet
30:23was not about
30:24to die just yet.
30:26With the advantage
30:27of surprise
30:28Dönitz's U-boats
30:30were able to launch
30:31a punishing offensive
30:33as the British merchant fleet
30:35hurried for shelter.
30:37Quality
30:38made up for quantity.
30:39many veterans
30:41of the submarine force
30:43of the Imperial Navy
30:44provided the skills
30:45and discipline
30:47of Dönitz's new force.
30:50The brunt
30:51of the hostilities
30:52would be borne
30:53by Germany's
30:54legendary
30:55Type 7 class.
30:58They proved
30:59ideal for the task.
31:01With a low
31:02conning tower
31:03only 5.2 meters
31:05above the waterline
31:06they were hard
31:07to see
31:08from over a mile
31:09even in daylight.
31:11At night
31:12and head on
31:13they were practically
31:14invisible.
31:16They could dive
31:17in under half a minute
31:18they could reach
31:19a depth of
31:20100 meters
31:21without strain
31:22and 200 meters
31:24if pressed.
31:26Depth
31:26and endurance
31:27at high speed
31:28were twice as good
31:30as any
31:31of their
31:31allied contemporaries.
31:34The Type 7
31:35had a range
31:37of 7,000 miles
31:38at 12 knots
31:39on the surface
31:40and could travel
31:4190 miles
31:42submerged
31:43at 4 knots.
31:46Progress
31:47was painfully
31:48slow
31:48when submerged
31:49and the U-boats
31:51still surfaced
31:52to attack
31:53even the slowest
31:54quarry.
31:55On a German
31:567 class boat
31:57when submerged
31:58had a speed
31:59of between
32:003 to 7 knots
32:02but the U-boats
32:03operating on the water
32:03at a maximum
32:047 knots
32:05travelling at this speed
32:06you would deplete
32:07your batteries
32:07within 30 minutes
32:09so they had to
32:10basically travel
32:11at a much slower speed
32:12between 2 to 4 knots
32:14and operationally
32:15this was very much
32:16restricting the boat.
32:19The major approach
32:21to your target
32:23very often
32:23would be done
32:24on the surface
32:25and then
32:26you positioned
32:27yourself
32:27ahead of the target
32:28and it was
32:29at that point
32:30you dived
32:30and conducted
32:32your attack.
32:35If your target
32:37would match
32:37your speed
32:38then the submarine
32:39would always
32:39be in great difficulty
32:41in getting into
32:42a decent firing position.
32:45The diesel submarine
32:46really only had
32:48a single shot
32:48in its locker
32:49it had to get
32:50itself into position
32:51and be in the right
32:52place at the right time
32:53to fire
32:55an effective salvo
32:57to sink its target.
32:59Despite these disadvantages
33:01in the early part
33:03of the war
33:04the submarines
33:05had a field day
33:06attacking lone merchant ships
33:09and could operate
33:10with little harassment
33:11from escort ships.
33:14As with the First World War
33:16in the early part
33:17of the war
33:18most of the destruction
33:19of allied shipping
33:20took place
33:21on the surface.
33:24The U-boats
33:25would usually
33:26sink the unarmed ships
33:28by fire
33:28from their deck gun.
33:30Although it was
33:31a dangerous maneuver
33:32there was often
33:34no choice.
33:36Space on board
33:37was limited
33:38and German torpedoes
33:40were plagued
33:40by development problems
33:42which caused
33:43many to fail
33:44to explode.
33:46Due to the restrictions
33:48of the electric motors
33:49which needed
33:50frequent recharging
33:52the U-boats
33:53spent almost
33:54all of their time
33:55on the surface.
33:57The submarine
33:58was in truth
33:59no more
34:00than a submersible
34:01torpedo boat
34:02with limited
34:03submerged endurance.
34:05It had to come up
34:07at regular intervals
34:08for air
34:08and to recharge
34:10its batteries.
34:11This
34:12was to prove
34:13its undoing.
34:14When a submarine
34:16is on the surface
34:17it is vulnerable
34:19and during World War II
34:21particularly during
34:22the Battle of the Atlantic
34:23German submarines
34:24on the surface
34:25were at risk
34:27particularly
34:28from aircraft.
34:30It was one of the lessons
34:30which was relearned
34:31that aircraft
34:33are absolutely invaluable
34:34in protecting
34:35surface vessels
34:36against attack
34:37by the old type
34:39of conventional submarine
34:40which has to use
34:41the surface
34:42and submarines
34:43could be detected
34:44if they transmitted
34:46on their wireless sets
34:47they could be detected
34:49by radar
34:50and during World War II
34:52when the German submarines
34:54used to make
34:55an awful lot
34:56of their attacks
34:56on the surface
34:58then radar
34:59became an effective
35:00weapon
35:00for use against them.
35:03Destroyers too
35:04caught U-boats
35:05on the surface
35:05as they attempted
35:06to refuel
35:07or recharge
35:08the batteries.
35:10The Royal Navy's
35:12response
35:12to the U-boats
35:13produced the excellent
35:15T-class patrol submarine
35:17It was cheap
35:18but stable
35:20efficient
35:20and powerfully armed
35:22It would prove
35:24its worth
35:25in the years
35:25that followed
35:29The Alliance
35:30is typical
35:31of the British submarines
35:32of the era
35:33She is preserved
35:35at the submarine museum
35:36at Gosport
35:37The accommodation
35:40was spartan
35:41with the crew
35:42sleeping on suspended bunks
35:44There was a crowded
35:46galley
35:46and eating area
35:49The Alliance
35:50carried torpedoes
35:52with four forward
35:53mounted torpedo tubes
35:55two at the rear
35:58It was the German
35:59seaborne invasion
36:00of Norway
36:01which gave
36:02the Royal Navy
36:03submarines
36:03the chance
36:05to take the war
36:06to the Kriegsmarine
36:07They certainly
36:08did not fail
36:09in their challenge
36:10Between April 9th
36:13and May 1st
36:141940
36:15British submarines
36:17like this
36:17destroyed 22
36:19German ships
36:20Both the battleships
36:23Scharnhorst
36:23and Gneissau
36:25were torpedoed
36:26The British submarines
36:28had proved
36:29the equal
36:30of Donitz Raiders
36:37In early 1939
36:39hurried arrangements
36:41were made
36:41for British ships
36:42to travel
36:43in tight
36:44escorted convoys
36:46The German response
36:48was to form
36:49wolf packs
36:51Well the Rue del Tactic
36:53or Pack Tactics
36:54was very much
36:55brought to great effect
36:56by Donitz
36:56during the Second World War
36:57and the method used
36:59was for some
37:00six to ten
37:00U-boats
37:01to form a patrol line
37:03across the expected
37:04path of a convoy
37:06When one of the boats
37:07detected the convoy
37:08the initial boat
37:09making the contact
37:10would not attack
37:11the convoy
37:12but merely
37:13send the information
37:14back to headquarters
37:15size of convoy
37:16speed and location
37:17Then all the other boats
37:19would be coordinated
37:20in onto the convoy
37:21where again
37:22they would not
37:23immediately attack
37:24but merely
37:24shadow the convoy
37:25until nightless fell
37:27and then attack
37:28them from all sides
37:29and it was sheer mayhem
37:32There were several
37:33reasons for the U-boats
37:35to prefer
37:35the night attack
37:37Submerged
37:38a U-boat
37:39travelled slowly
37:40Eight knots
37:41was the maximum
37:42practical speed
37:43and the duration
37:45of the dive
37:45was strictly limited
37:47On the surface
37:49a U-boat
37:50could maintain
37:51sixteen knots
37:52giving the boats
37:53a huge
37:54increased range
37:56At the early stage
37:58of the war
37:59the convoy
38:00still relied
38:01mainly on visual
38:02observation
38:02to detect submarines
38:04In the dark
38:06the low profile
38:07of a U-boat
38:08were easily missed
38:10The U-boat's
38:11much larger target
38:13was clearly silhouetted
38:14against the sky
38:15particularly
38:16if another vessel
38:18had been set alight
38:20As they gained experience
38:22in their deadly trade
38:23the wolf packs
38:25became bolder
38:26and some
38:27adventurous captains
38:28even took to striking
38:30within the convoy
38:31itself
38:31where the escorts
38:33dared not
38:33use their guns
38:34for fear of
38:36hitting their own ships
38:38In the early years
38:40of the war
38:40the British
38:41had two devices
38:42for detecting submarines
38:45The first
38:46was the hydrophone
38:48a simple
38:49listening device
38:50which could detect
38:51propeller noise
38:52It could be defeated
38:54by the submarine
38:55shutting down
38:56its engine
38:57It was also
38:59unreliable
38:59and could only be used
39:01if the searching ship
39:03stopped its own
39:04propellers
39:04to listen
39:05for the U-boat
39:07Much more
39:08was expected
39:09of the ASDIC
39:10At the start
39:11of World War II
39:12we'd now seen
39:14ASDIC
39:15introduced
39:15very widely
39:17into
39:18surface ships
39:19and indeed
39:20into other submarines
39:21and the principle
39:23of ASDIC
39:24is a pulse of energy
39:25into the sea
39:27The sea is a very good
39:29transporter
39:29of energy
39:31at about
39:32the sound frequency
39:32It would hit its
39:34target
39:35and providing
39:36more sufficient
39:37energy
39:38left in the return
39:39signal
39:40that would be heard
39:41and that would give you
39:41a range and a bearing
39:42The U-boat's main weapon
39:45was also its betrayer
39:47the torpedo's wake
39:50As the torpedo's
39:51sped towards
39:52their intended victim
39:54the tell-tale pattern
39:55of disturbance
39:56in the water
39:57gave away
39:58the U-boat position
40:00So
40:01with the torpedo's
40:02loosed
40:03there was no time
40:04to celebrate victory
40:05or to dwell on failure
40:08In one moment
40:09the hunter
40:10became the hunted
40:11and the real trial
40:13for a submarine crew
40:14began
40:15It was a battle
40:16for survival
40:17to outwit
40:19the enemy above
40:20in a tense
40:21and deadly game
40:22of hide and seek
40:26A pattern of depth charges
40:28laid in a spread
40:29could either destroy
40:31the U-boat
40:32or cause damage
40:33enough to force it
40:34to the surface
40:35to the waiting guns
40:36of the hunters
40:38Often
40:39a damaged U-boat
40:41would sink slowly
40:42into the ocean
40:43For the helpless crew
40:45there was the agony
40:47of waiting for the point
40:49where the massive pressure
40:50would cause the hull
40:52to implode
41:00The worst nightmare
41:02was to be trapped alive
41:04on the floor of the ocean
41:06with the prospect
41:08of a slow death
41:09by asphyxiation
41:12Amongst the enemy
41:13the U-boats
41:14aroused fear
41:15and loathing
41:16Their mode of warfare
41:18appeared ruthless
41:19cunning
41:20and impersonal
41:22Yet a U-boat crew
41:24was an assortment
41:25of very human individuals
41:27living and fighting
41:29under exceptionally
41:30harsh conditions
41:31They remained
41:34in their uncomfortable
41:35claustrophobic vessels
41:36for perhaps months
41:38at a time
41:39rarely seen daylight
41:40Lack of water
41:42meant that men
41:44sported beards
41:46For all submariners
41:49the war was
41:50a silent nightmare world
41:52which tested
41:53their stoic resolve
41:55The psychological strain
41:57was immense
41:58as they waited
41:59for the shock waves
42:00of an exploding charge
42:01not knowing
42:02if it would be
42:03a fatal blow
42:05As the boat shook
42:07the hull
42:08would spring leaks
42:09and equipment
42:10would be strewn
42:11the length
42:12of the submarine
42:13As the attack
42:15was pressed home
42:15an equally dangerous
42:17hazard arose
42:18Chlorine gas
42:21could be produced
42:21from the deadly
42:22combination of
42:23seawater
42:24and leaked
42:25battery acid
42:26Just one more danger
42:28in a world
42:29full of dangers
42:31Of the 1170 U-boats
42:33commissioned by Germany
42:34some 790 were sunk
42:36and of those
42:38469 went down
42:39with all hands
42:40The U-boat arm
42:42itself was suffering
42:42greatly
42:43Of the 40,000 men
42:45that they put to sea
42:45in U-boats
42:4630,000 were killed
42:485,000 were captured
42:49and even just 5,000
42:51to bring the boat home
42:53As the U-boat sweeps
42:55grew wider
42:55the journeys
42:56to safe havens
42:58on the shores
42:58of occupied France
42:59grew longer
43:01A system for maintenance
43:02and supply
43:03at sea
43:04was devised
43:05It was not easy
43:07Type 9 U-boats
43:09were converted
43:10into supply vessels
43:11called Milchkaus
43:13They could refuel
43:15rearm
43:16and even repair
43:18a submarine at sea
43:20This brought valuable
43:21operating time
43:22But in the mid-Atlantic
43:25even in calm weather
43:27and safe
43:27from the probing eyes
43:29of the enemy
43:30it was a perilous
43:31operation
43:34Inexorably
43:35the balance
43:36was tipping
43:36against the Kriegsmarine
43:38in the Atlantic
43:38The rate of
43:40Allied shipbuilding
43:41was climbing
43:42far above losses
43:45In the first
43:46three months
43:46of 1940
43:47when on average
43:4914 U-boats
43:50were on patrol
43:51over 800,000 tons
43:54of Allied shipping
43:55had been sunk
43:57In a similar period
43:59in 1943
44:00with 115 boats
44:03operating
44:03the tally
44:05was nearly
44:06550,000 tons
44:09100 more U-boats
44:11were sinking
44:12only some
44:13three quarters
44:14of the tonnage
44:16More significantly
44:17U-boat losses
44:19were growing
44:19at an alarming rate
44:21The conventional
44:22submarines
44:23which had fared
44:24so well
44:25in the first
44:25winter of the war
44:26were now
44:27highly vulnerable
44:29to the Allied
44:29hunter-killer groups
44:32It became rare
44:33for a U-boat
44:34to survive
44:35more than
44:35two sorties
44:37This awful statistic
44:39meant that it was
44:41impossible to produce
44:42experienced crews
44:44and many new
44:45submarines
44:46were put to sea
44:47commanded by
44:48inexperienced officers
44:50in their early
44:51twenties
44:53many new
44:55under-manned submarines
44:56and their young
44:57crew were lost
44:59on their first voyage
45:01From 1943 onwards
45:03when the
45:04major shift
45:05in the Battle
45:06of the Atlantic
45:06occurred
45:07and as U-boat
45:09losses increased
45:10the first effect
45:12you have
45:12is
45:13a general lowering
45:15of experience level
45:16You're losing
45:19experienced men
45:20and into the
45:22bottom of the
45:23sort of training
45:24funnel
45:24you're sucking in
45:26less experience
45:29The less experienced
45:30you are
45:31the more likely
45:32you are
45:32to get sunk
45:33So what
45:34happens is
45:35and what happened
45:37was
45:37that they got onto
45:39really
45:39an absolutely
45:41fatal
45:42spiral
45:43of
45:45reducing experience
45:46and rising losses
45:48and
45:49at the end
45:50of the war
45:51I mean
45:51really young
45:53very inexperienced
45:55crews
45:55were taking
45:56these submarines
45:56to sea
45:57I mean
45:58I don't think
45:59it's an exaggeration
46:01to say
46:01it almost
46:01became a turkey
46:02ship
46:04On all fronts
46:05the Allies
46:06were winning
46:07the electronic
46:08surveillance war
46:09By March
46:101943
46:11the air cover
46:13gap was bridged
46:14which meant
46:15that no part
46:16of the Atlantic
46:17was out of range
46:18of aircraft
46:19from Britain
46:19or America
46:21British Wellingtons
46:23and American
46:24Liberators
46:25fitted with
46:26long range
46:26tanks
46:27meant that
46:28there was
46:28no safe haven
46:29for the U-boats
46:30to surface
46:31and recharge
46:32their batteries
46:35A grim situation
46:37took a turn
46:38for the worse
46:39with the chance
46:40capture of the
46:41secret Enigma
46:42codebook
46:42from a crippled
46:44German U-boat
46:46All signals
46:47to U-boats
46:48were coded
46:49and could only
46:50be decoded
46:51on the Enigma
46:52codebook
46:54This Enigma
46:55machine
46:56enabled the Allies
46:57to crack
46:58the German codes
46:59and enabled
47:00the position
47:01of the Wolfpacks
47:02to be identified
47:04For months
47:06the German commanders
47:08were unaware
47:08that their codes
47:09had been broken
47:10Once again
47:12losses rose
47:14dramatically
47:15In the single
47:17month of May
47:171943
47:18over 40 U-boats
47:21were destroyed
47:23The U-boat
47:24losses continued
47:25to rise
47:25at an alarming
47:26rate
47:26In May 1943
47:29over 40 U-boats
47:31were destroyed
47:33Dönitz was forced
47:34to order
47:35the withdrawal
47:35of the U-boat fleet
47:36from the North Atlantic
47:39The Germans
47:40had lost
47:41the Battle of the Atlantic
47:42and with it
47:43all chance
47:45of strangling
47:46the fortress
47:46island of Britain
47:48U-534
47:50is a rarity
47:51She survived
47:53from 1942
47:54right through
47:55to the second
47:56last day
47:57of the war
48:00The commander
48:01of the U-534
48:02was just 26
48:05when his ship
48:06was sunk
48:08Captain Muller
48:09and his crew
48:10had slipped
48:11out of the harbour
48:12on a mission
48:13to escape
48:13to Argentina
48:14and safety
48:17They were caught
48:18by the ever-present
48:19Allied Air Force
48:20and sunk
48:21by two depth charges
48:23Even then
48:24the captain
48:25and his young crew
48:26rode the luck
48:27surviving the sinking
48:29to be rescued
48:30by one of the few
48:31surviving
48:32German surface ships
48:38Like U-534
48:39Hitler's grand designs
48:42died with him
48:43in the chancellery bunker
48:45On May the 4th
48:47Grand Admiral Dönitz
48:49now head of state
48:50issued the order
48:52for the U-boats
48:53to cease hostilities
48:58My U-boatmen
48:59Six years of warfare
49:02lies behind us
49:03You have fought
49:05like lions
49:06against a crushingly
49:07superior force
49:08but unbroken
49:10in your warlike courage
49:11you are laying down
49:13your arms
49:14after an heroic fight
49:16which knows no equal
49:19In reverence
49:21we think of our comrades
49:23who have died
49:25Comrades
49:27Maintain your U-boat spirit
49:29with which you fought
49:30most bravely
49:32and unflinchingly
49:33during the long years
50:23Rocksree
50:24in the early days
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