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06:27ship Graf Spee totally disrupted the sea lanes in the South Atlantic and Indian
06:32Oceans throughout the autumn of 1939
06:45she was eventually brought to bay by a Royal Navy squadron of three cruisers
06:49and a fierce battle took place at the mouth of the river plate although
06:54outgunned and severely damaged the cruisers forced Graf Spee to run for
06:58shelter in neutral Uruguay and two days later her captain scuttled her rather
07:04than allow the ship to fall into British hands
07:09the Battle of the River Plate was a much-needed morale boost for the Royal
07:13Navy during the early months of the war and the crews of the three cruisers were
07:18greeted as heroes on their return to Britain
07:22success was to breed success in February 1940 the Royal Navy showed its
07:30traditional determination when a destroyer squadron led by HMS Cossack
07:34pursued the Graf Spee's supply ship Altmark into neutral Norwegian waters with the
07:41rousing cry the Navy's here Altmark was boarded as this hitherto unseen colorful
07:47shows and the captured merchant Navy seamen she was taking back to Germany
07:51rescued
07:59the protests of a Norwegian gunboat were brushed off
08:05but elsewhere victory came less easily
08:13the Royal Navy found itself fighting desperately to rescue Britain's arms first from
08:19ill-fated landing in Norway and then off the beaches of Dunkirk as Hitler's
08:23panzers swiftly routed the French and British forces the successful evacuation of
08:31three hundred and forty thousand men was a great achievement but could not disguise the
08:36fact that Britain was now isolated facing a Nazi dominated Europe
08:44following the surrender of France in June 1940 Hitler's growing fleet of U-boats could
08:50operate from her Atlantic ports access to the ocean was easy and many more
08:54submarines could be on patrol at any one time
09:04even though the Royal Navy tried to escort all Britain's merchant fleet in
09:07convoys pre-war economies meant that it was desperately short of escort vessels
09:12and lacked adequate air cover as its enemy reached deep into the Atlantic
09:25during the autumn of 1940 the U-boats began what their crews called the first happy time
09:34sinkings rose so rapidly the Britain shipyards could not provide replacements
09:42German long-range bombers attacked the convoys and brought U-boat wolf packs homing in on them
09:49in desperation Churchill bartered the use of British naval bases in the Caribbean for elderly US
09:55destroyers but the sinkings continued and it seemed that the U-boats were close to victory
10:05German surface raiders were also able to break out
10:08and the home fleet's efforts to hunt them down met with no success
10:17then in May 1941 naval intelligence reported that Bismarck the first of Germany's two new battleships
10:24had sailed into the Atlantic the British home fleet set out to intercept
10:34it was the battlecruiser hood for long the pride of the Royal Navy which first sighted Bismarck in the exchange
10:41that followed hood was hit in one of her magazines and blew up only three of her crew survived
10:51after the attack
10:52after the attack Bismarck disappeared into the Atlantic but a day later she was spotted by a Catalina flying boat
11:00swordfish torpedo bombers from HMS Ark Royal managed to damage her steering
11:11gear
11:11the crippled German ship made for the safety of the French port of Brest but the home fleet had her
11:17in its sights
11:20the punishment Bismarck took was amazing
11:24we was thumping salvo after salvo into her you could see them hit
11:28by the time we finished we left her burning from stem to stern
11:32one of her mags must have blown up and she was sinking
11:37HMS hood had been averaged
11:42some of the intelligence which helped to track Bismarck came from the secret British code breaking center at Bletchley Park
11:48which had broken the German Enigma code
11:50and in the same month the cryptographers there received a priceless advantage
11:55when the frigate HMS Bulldog forced U110 to the surface
11:59capturing a complete naval Enigma machine with all its code settings
12:07U-boats could now be tracked with much more accuracy and convoys warned of their presence
12:18also an increasing number of escorts was now being built
12:32the backbone of these was the corvette armed with depth charges and a four-inch gun and with a crew
12:38of some 100 men
12:41they were sturdy little ships but very unstable in heavy seas
12:47one officer who served in them claimed that they could roll on wet grass
12:58attempts were also being made to provide the convoys with some air cover
13:02hurricane fighters were mounted on catapults on merchant ships
13:13but they were a weapon of last resort since they could not land back on deck
13:17and had to be ditched after a single mission
13:27by July 1941 the odds at sea had tipped back to the Royal Navy
13:32improved equipment and training and the growing combat experience of the escort crews
13:37brought the U-boats happy time to an end
13:41it was not a moment too soon
13:43in June Hitler attacked the Soviet Union
13:45for the Royal Navy this dramatic expansion of the war
13:49meant a substantial increase in its responsibilities
13:51and a further stretching of its resources
13:56in September
13:57the first British convoys taking aid to Russia
14:00began to brave the appalling Arctic seas
14:03and a brutal new campaign
14:05which would last for almost four years
14:07had begun
14:15Hitler responded by building up his naval and air forces in Norway
14:19among them the battleship Tirpitz, Bismarck's sister
14:31she comfortably outgunned any British rival
14:34and for the next three years
14:36her presence as a threat to both the Arctic and Atlantic convoys
14:40would preoccupy the British home fleet
14:44just as the Tirpitz reached Norway
14:46the war expanded again
14:48following up Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor
14:51Hitler declared war on the United States
15:05the U-boats moved into American waters
15:08the refusal of the US Navy's commander-in-chief
15:11Admiral King
15:11to learn from the Royal Navy's hard-won experience
15:14and introduce convoys
15:16gave them a second happy time
15:24for months the British escort crews had to watch helplessly
15:27as the ships they had shepherded across the Atlantic
15:30were sunk
15:31often within sight of brightly-lit American coastal resorts
15:35Allied losses during the first six months of 1942
15:38were the worst in the Battle of the Atlantic
15:45the German Naval High Command
15:47took advantage of the Royal Navy's new preoccupation
15:50the battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Neisenau
15:53and the cruiser Prince Eugen
15:55had been trapped in the French port of Bordeaux for many months
15:58now they managed to escape
16:02early on the morning of the 11th of February 1942
16:04the German squadron slipped out of harbour
16:07in fog and low cloud they raced up the channel
16:10and were not spotted until almost midday
16:13when they were nearing the Straits of Dover
16:26the first British response
16:28was an attack by motor torpedo boats based at Dover
16:34because I wouldn't normally have seen anything
16:36being down below on the radio
16:38but the radio packed up
16:40I shouted out the voice part
16:42couldn't get any sense up there
16:44just all shouting and hollering
16:45and panic stations
16:47and so I went up top
16:49wow
16:50and I thought the old German Navy was after me
16:53just me alone
16:54you know battleships destroyers
16:57minesweepers
16:57e-boats 20-30 yards away
17:00sky black with Messerschmitts
17:02told the skipper that the radio had packed up
17:05so he said grab a gun
17:06anyway I got hold of a rifle
17:08pointed at the Scharnhorst
17:10just to try and look brave
17:12the motor torpedo boats were ineffective
17:14they were followed with a virtually suicidal attack
17:17by slow and lumbering swordfish torpedo bombers
17:20the Germans watched in amazement
17:23as the fleet air arm crews
17:24led by Lieutenant Commander Eugene Esmond
17:26pressed home their attacks
17:28in the face of intense fire
17:35all six planes were shot down
17:36before they could score a hit
17:38on any of the German ships
17:51Esmond was later awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross
17:54for his selfless courage
18:03the German squadron reached port safely
18:06now all the Creed's marina's major ships
18:09were concentrated in northern waters
18:17for the British home fleet
18:18the threat to the Arctic convoys seemed all the greater
18:21following the channel dash
18:28even though the US and Canadian navies
18:30were now playing a growing part in the convoy war
18:33most of the burden still fell
18:35on the thinly stretched Royal Navy
18:42losses increased
18:43and the threat of the Tirpitz in particular
18:45obsessed naval planners
18:48the fear that she might intervene
18:50led to a tragedy
18:51when convoy PQ-17 set sail from Iceland
18:55on the 27th of June 1942
18:59it had a strong escort
19:00and a powerful backup force
19:02which included both British and US ships
19:07but when the Royal Navy's commander in chief
19:10Admiral Sir Dudley Pound
19:11received intelligence reports
19:13that Tirpitz was on the move
19:14he assumed that the support group
19:16was too distant to intercept
19:20to the astonishment of the man on the spot
19:22the close escort commander Jackie Broome
19:25he ordered the convoy to scatter
19:28it shook us all to the core
19:30we didn't
19:30we had got no reason to believe
19:32that there was anything to scatter about
19:36it could only mean one thing
19:37and that was that she was here
19:39she was on the horizon
19:41up went all our glasses
19:42focusing on various quarters
19:44of the horizon
19:46and I remember
19:46expecting somebody to say
19:48there she is
19:49there's a gun player
19:50something like that
19:50so I thought
19:51there's no time to lose
19:52she might be honest
19:53she probably is honest
19:54so I shot into the convoy in Keppel
19:57went alongside the Commodore
19:59switched on the loud hailer
20:01and said
20:02I'm sorry about this
20:03or something
20:04and you could see the Commodore
20:05standing on the wing of the bridge
20:06he didn't seem to believe it
20:09the Tirpitz never got within range
20:11of the convoy
20:12but the Luftwaffe
20:13and the U-boats
20:14massacred the defenceless merchant vessels
20:20only ten out of the original 33
20:22reached the Russian port of Murmansk
20:27following the disaster
20:29the convoys were suspended
20:30for several months
20:31when they resumed
20:33the Royal Navy's escorts
20:34were much stronger
20:43this paid off
20:44on the last day of 1942
20:46when a foray
20:47by the German cruisers
20:48Hipper and Lützow
20:49was repulsed
20:52Hitler was so angry
20:53that he sacked
20:54his naval commander-in-chief
20:55Admiral Erich Raeder
20:56and threatened to deactivate
20:58the service fleet
20:59but Raeder's successor
21:01U-boat chief
21:02Karl Dönitz
21:03persuaded Hitler
21:04that the warships
21:05were essential
21:05to pin down the Royal Navy's
21:07home fleet
21:13Dönitz exploited
21:14the greatly increased
21:15U-boat production
21:16he could now keep
21:18more than 60 boats
21:19at sea continuously
21:20and at the beginning of 1943
21:22they sank seven
21:23out of nine oil tankers
21:25in one vital convoy
21:29the Germans never came so near
21:30to disrupting communications
21:32between the new world
21:33and the old
21:34as in the first 20 days
21:35of March 1943
21:36said a British admiralty report
21:39a few months later
21:41in two massive convoy battles
21:43in the North Atlantic
21:44thirty-nine merchant ships
21:46and two escorts
21:47were sunk
21:47for the loss of only three U-boats
21:56the spring gales
21:57the spring gales
21:57brought a lull in April
21:58but this level
21:59of allied losses
22:00could not be tolerated
22:01but patient work
22:03by the Royal Navy
22:04was about to pay off
22:05Admiral Max Horton
22:07had taken over
22:07as commander
22:08of naval forces
22:09in the North Atlantic
22:10in November 1942
22:13four months later
22:14he was at last
22:15given sufficient
22:15long-range aircraft
22:17to cover the whole
22:17of the North Atlantic
22:24new escort carriers
22:25which could accompany
22:26the convoys
22:27and lead hunter groups
22:28were coming into service
22:40the convoy escorts
22:42were now immensely experienced
22:43with improved detection equipment
22:45and tactics
22:51when the turning point came
22:53in the Battle of the Atlantic
22:54it was sudden
22:55and dramatic
22:56convoy ONS-5
22:57with forty-three merchant ships
22:59left Britain
23:00for North American ports
23:02towards the end of April
23:04within a few days
23:05it was being hounded
23:06by no less than
23:07forty U-boats
23:08almost one
23:09for each merchantman
23:10the largest wolf pack
23:12of the war
23:19on the 29th of April
23:21the Germans claimed
23:22their first victim
23:27but then a Royal Canadian
23:28Air Force Catalina
23:29retaliated
23:30and sank one U-boats
23:37one of the convoy
23:38escort vessels
23:39accounted for another
23:40with its depth charges
23:49one of the Royal Navy's
23:50most experienced
23:51escort commanders
23:52Peter Gretton
23:53began the fight back
23:56we had a very heavy
23:58battle
23:59with about twenty U-boats
24:02we sank three of them
24:03and didn't lose one single ship
24:05which was extremely satisfactory
24:10by the end of the action
24:12nine U-boats had been sunk
24:13for the loss of twelve merchant ships
24:15during the rest of the month
24:17the Germans lost thirty-two more submarines
24:23this was more than double
24:24the previous worst monthly figure
24:26and Admiral Dönitz
24:27was forced to withdraw his boats
24:29temporarily from the Atlantic
24:34the U-boats did return
24:35and were still in action
24:36until the day the war ended
24:38but they were never again
24:39able to threaten the flood
24:40of American troops
24:41and equipment
24:42which crossed the ocean
24:43to prepare for the liberation of Europe
24:52the Battle of the Atlantic
24:54was the Royal Navy's longest
24:55most vital
24:56and most arduous campaign
25:00the skill and courage
25:01of its crews
25:02was only matched
25:03by the bravery and endurance
25:04of the men of the Merchant Navy
25:11by the middle of 1943
25:12the Royal Navy
25:14and its Canadian
25:15and US allies
25:16had seized effective control
25:17of the Atlantic sea routes
25:19from the U-boats
25:20but in Norway
25:21the threat of the Tirpitz
25:22and Scharnhorst remained
25:26attempts to destroy them
25:27by bombing
25:28and using the new
25:29chariot human torpedoes
25:30were unsuccessful
25:35but the Navy had been preparing
25:37a new weapon
25:38the midget submarine
25:39or X-craft
25:41designed specifically
25:42to penetrate
25:43heavily defended anchorages
25:50in September 1943
25:52six X-craft
25:53were towed across the North Sea
25:54to Norway
25:55two were lost en route
25:57and X-10
25:58whose target
25:59was the Scharnhorst
26:00had to abort her attack
26:02when she found
26:02that the battlecruiser
26:03had put to sea
26:04for firing practice
26:08but the other three X-craft
26:09successfully got
26:10into the Altenfjord
26:11where Tirpitz lay
26:13while X-5
26:14disappeared without trace
26:15Lieutenant Cameron
26:17in X-6
26:18managed to get through
26:19the anti-torpedo nets
26:20that protected the battleship
26:24he was spotted
26:25after servicing accidentally
26:27but was able
26:28to place his charges
26:29and scuttle his craft
26:30before surrendering
26:42from the ship
26:43and went deep
26:44to 75 feet
26:45because all our measurements
26:47and all our intelligence
26:48indicated
26:49that the nets
26:50would not go down
26:51to that depth
26:53in fact they did
26:54and we ran into the net
26:56at 75 feet
26:57perhaps 100 yards
26:58from the ship
26:59I backed out
27:00I backed out
27:01took a long sweep round
27:02and went in again
27:03at 95 feet
27:05the depth of water there
27:07being 100 feet-ish
27:09so we were only just clear
27:10of the bottom
27:12I stopped
27:13and
27:15gently came up
27:16to periscope depth
27:17risking breaking surface
27:19even by a small amount
27:20ready to have a good luck
27:21and see where we were
27:23there
27:24and then
27:25miracle of miracles
27:26we were
27:27inside all the nets
27:29and there was no further obstacle
27:30between us
27:31and the ship
27:33place dived once more
27:34and slipped underneath
27:35Turpitt's hull
27:47he then detached
27:49the explosive charges
27:50from the sides
27:50of his ex-craft
28:06as X-7 was heading away
28:08the charges detonated
28:14the shock destroyed X-7's controls
28:17and she sank
28:18but place
28:19and one of his three
28:20crew survived
28:21and were made prisoner
28:22the damage
28:24he and Cameron
28:24had caused Turpitt's
28:25put her out of commission
28:27for six months
28:29for their coolness
28:30and determination
28:31both place
28:31and Cameron
28:32were later awarded
28:33the Victoria Cross
28:36and the German surface threat
28:38from Norway
28:38remained
28:42on the 20th of December 1943
28:45convoy JW 55B
28:47set out
28:48from the north of Scotland
28:49bound for northern Russia
28:50not only did it have
28:52a strong close escort
28:53but Admiral Sir Bruce Fraser
28:55commanding the home fleet
28:56was at sea in his flagship
28:58Duke of York
28:59with four cruisers
29:00and four destroyers
29:01he hoped to lure
29:03the battle cruiser
29:03the Sharnhorst
29:04from her Norwegian lair
29:09I think four o'clock
29:10in the morning
29:11on Boxing Day
29:13I was woken up
29:14by a signal
29:14from the Edmundry
29:16saying
29:17the Edmundry
29:18believe the Sharnhorst
29:19is at sea
29:20and that's the only
29:21communication
29:22I had with the Edmundry
29:23during the whole
29:24of the time
29:24I was up to that
29:27a few hours later
29:28Fraser's ships
29:29located Sharnhorst
29:30and opened fire
29:33twice the German
29:34battlecruiser
29:34managed to slip away
29:35into the Merc
29:36but each time
29:37she was relocated
29:39eventually at 6.30pm
29:41Sharnhorst's guns
29:42fell silent
29:43as the British
29:44pounded her
29:54Fraser sent in his destroyers
29:56to finish her off
29:57with torpedoes
30:03Sharnhorst now lies
30:05off the North Cape
30:05of Norway
30:06a memorial
30:07to the last battle
30:08ever fought
30:09between two capital ships
30:10using big guns alone
30:16only 36 of her 2,000 man crew
30:18survived
30:19to be brought back to Britain
30:20as prisoners of war
30:31elsewhere
30:32the Royal Navy
30:33also enjoyed success
30:34in September 1943
30:37its seamen watched
30:38the surrender
30:38of another enemy
30:39they had fought
30:40for more than three years
30:41Admiral Andrew Cunningham
30:43commander of the Mediterranean fleet
30:45proudly signaled
30:47the Admiralty in London
30:48be pleased
30:49to inform his majesty
30:50that the Italian fleet
30:51lies at anchor
30:52under the guns
30:53of the fortress of Malta
30:54it had all been very different
30:56in June 1940
30:57when Italian dictator
30:59Benito Mussolini
31:00had announced
31:00that his powerful fleet
31:01would drive the British
31:02out of mare nostrum
31:04our sea
31:06Cunningham's fleet
31:07had been severely weakened
31:08by the need
31:08to send ships
31:09to defend Britain
31:10but he was determined
31:11to bring the Italian fleet
31:12to battle
31:15however a few
31:16inconclusive skirmishes
31:17were enough
31:18to persuade the Italian fleet
31:20that it would be safer
31:21to stay in port
31:28Cunningham now looked
31:29to a new weapon
31:31on the night
31:31of the 11th of November 1940
31:34swordfish aircraft
31:35from the carrier
31:35illustrious
31:36took off to attack
31:37the Italian fleet base
31:39at Taranto
31:41Charles Lamb
31:42was later interviewed
31:43by the BBC
31:46I thought
31:47looking at this
31:48intense flag
31:49watching the aircraft
31:50go in
31:50that there would be no
31:53survivors
31:53other than
31:54ourselves
31:55in our role
31:56as a spectator
31:58and on the way
31:59back from Taranto
32:00said to my observer
32:02Casey Greene
32:03that I thought
32:04we would have to make
32:05out a report
32:05of what had happened
32:06because nobody else
32:08would have got back
32:10as it turned out
32:11of course
32:12we only lost two
32:17three of Italy's
32:19six battleships
32:19were crippled
32:20twenty-one obsolete
32:22biplanes
32:22had rewritten the rules
32:24of naval warfare
32:25from now on
32:26air power
32:27would be critical
32:30but this triumph
32:31only slightly eased
32:33Cunningham's other
32:33great concern
32:34the defense of Malta
32:38the island's position
32:39in the central
32:40Mediterranean
32:40placed it astride
32:42Italy's supply lines
32:43to its armies
32:43fighting the British
32:44in North Africa
32:47supply convoys
32:49to Malta
32:49came under constant
32:50Axis air attack
32:51from Libya and Sicily
32:52and getting them through
32:54became one of the
32:54Royal Navy's
32:55most bitter campaigns
32:56of the war
33:00the situation worsened
33:02when Churchill
33:03decided to send
33:03troops to Greece
33:04after Hitler
33:05intervened to help
33:06the Italians in
33:07North Africa and the
33:08Balkans
33:09the Italian fleet
33:10sailed out to
33:11intercept the British
33:12convoys crossing
33:13from Egypt
33:14but Cunningham was
33:15waiting
33:18aircraft from the
33:19carrier formidable
33:20torpedoed the
33:21battleship
33:21Vittorio Veneto
33:22though she managed
33:23to limp back to
33:24port
33:26then they crippled
33:28the cruiser
33:28Pola
33:33the Italian
33:34sent ships
33:34to her aid
33:38but Cunningham's fleet
33:40intercepted them
33:41south of Cape
33:41Matapan
33:42and sank two cruisers
33:44and two destroyers
33:58the Germans
33:59swiftly overran the
34:01Balkans
34:01and then turned their
34:02attention on the island
34:04of Crete
34:09on the 20th of May
34:10they launched an
34:11airborne assault
34:12against the island
34:15within a week the
34:17Royal Navy was having
34:18to evacuate the
34:18defenders
34:19while under fierce air
34:21attack by the
34:21Luftwaffe
34:31one of the ship's
34:32sunk was the cruiser
34:33HMS Gloucester
34:34only 84 of her
34:36crew survived the
34:37onslaught
34:38eventually
34:40they hit us with a
34:41sallow of bombs
34:44where the bombs landed
34:45I was never sure
34:47I know one hit the
34:49bridge
34:50and there were several
34:52at the waist of the
34:53ship
34:54I felt somebody drag me
34:55up over the corner of
34:56the hatch
34:57about a foot while it was
34:59because you know
35:00the very heavy armoured
35:01hatch
35:02dragged me through
35:04onto the Marines'
35:04mastic
35:06so then we
35:07there were three more
35:08people we
35:08helped pull through
35:10but they were dead
35:11so we realised
35:12they were all drowned
35:13down below
35:13so the only thing to do
35:14was to close the hatch
35:202 other cruisers
35:21and 6 destroyers
35:22were also lost
35:23but the Navy
35:24managed to bring
35:2516,000 soldiers
35:26back to Egypt
35:30the strain on the
35:31Royal Navy crews
35:32was constant
35:35and we had very little
35:37sleep
35:38and this went on
35:40and on
35:41and on
35:47the pressure became
35:48even greater
35:49when the Germans sent
35:50more U-boats
35:51to the Mediterranean
35:54they dealt the Royal Navy
35:56a body blow
35:57sinking first
35:58the carrier Ark Royal
35:59which had until now
36:00led a charmed life
36:01surviving two
36:03two previous German claims
36:04that she had been sunk
36:09two weeks later
36:10on the 25th of November
36:121941
36:13a U-boat accounted
36:14for the battleship
36:15Bahram
36:27but even worse was to come
36:34on the night of the 18th of December 1941
36:37Italian frogmen mounted on human torpedoes
36:41made an attack on the battleship's Valiant
36:43and Queen Elizabeth
36:44in Alexandria Harbour
36:46they attached magnetic charges
36:48to the hulls of both ships
36:49crippling them
36:51Cunningham had no serviceable battleships left
36:53but the next morning
36:55but the next morning
36:55he saluted the flag
36:56on the quarterdeck as usual
36:58and the Italians
36:59never realized
36:59that they could use
37:00their remaining battleships
37:01against the Malta convoys
37:05instead
37:05the axis air offensive
37:07against the island
37:08was redoubled
37:13this stopped the supply convoys
37:15from Alexandria
37:16Malta seemed about to be starved
37:19into submission
37:32in August 1942
37:34Force H based at Gibraltar
37:36launched Operation Pedestal
37:38a final desperate attempt
37:40to get supplies to the island
37:41a convoy of 14 merchant vessels from Britain
37:45escorted by two battleships
37:47four aircraft carriers
37:48seven cruisers
37:49and 32 destroyers
37:51entered the Mediterranean
37:52on the 10th
38:01on the following day
38:03a squadron of Spitfires
38:04from the carrier Furious
38:05flew to bolster the defences of Malta
38:09as they did so
38:10a U-boat attacked the carrier Eagle
38:12and sank her with four torpedoes
38:20on the 12th
38:21the force came under
38:22sustained air attack again
38:24this time the aircraft carrier
38:26indomitable
38:27had her flight deck wrecked
38:32but amazingly
38:33only one merchant ship
38:35had been lost
38:43all that was to change
38:45that evening
38:46that evening the main escort
38:47turned back to Gibraltar
38:48as planned
38:49leaving four cruisers
38:50and 12 destroyers
38:51to take the merchant vessels
38:52on to Malta
38:53no sooner had this happened
38:55than an Italian submarine
38:57torpedoed two of the cruisers
38:58and the tanker Ohio
38:59which remained afloat
39:02it was the start of an horrific night
39:04as Italian and German torpedo boats
39:06joined in the action
39:07the third cruiser was sunk
39:09the fourth had to be scuttled
39:11and four of the merchant ships
39:13were destroyed
39:17five more merchant ships
39:18were sunk by air attack
39:20once daylight came
39:30by evening only three freighters survived
39:33they were greeted jubilantly
39:35as they reached Valletta's Grand Harbour
39:41and 24 hours later
39:43they were joined
39:44by the crippled tanker Ohio
39:45which had survived
39:46further savage air attacks
39:48her vital fuel
39:50and the supplies
39:50from the freighters
39:51ensured that Malta
39:52could fight on
39:53for another two months
40:01Captain Mason
40:03the skipper of the Ohio
40:04was awarded the George Cross
40:06Britain's highest civilian award
40:08for gallantry
40:12Operation Pedestal
40:14proved to be the turning point
40:15in the naval war
40:16in the Mediterranean
40:17Royal Navy submarines
40:19now joined
40:19in a massive campaign
40:21to throttle
40:21the Axis supply lines
40:23to North Africa
40:25this made a substantial contribution
40:27to the success
40:28of the offensive
40:29which drove the German
40:30and Italian forces
40:31back a thousand miles
40:32from El Alamein
40:33to Tunisia
40:34and the landings
40:35in North West Africa
40:36which completed the job
40:37of clearing the southern shore
40:38of the Mediterranean
40:43the Royal Navy
40:44now joined its US partner
40:46in supporting
40:46the first assaults
40:47on the home territory
40:48of one of their Axis enemies
41:01in July 1943
41:02came the Allied landings
41:04on Sicily
41:05and two months later
41:06on the Italian mainland
41:09Italy surrendered
41:11and as her fleet
41:12sailed to Malta
41:13to give itself up
41:14the Royal Navy's
41:15three-year campaign
41:16in the Mediterranean
41:17ended in victory
41:23by the autumn of 1943
41:25the naval war
41:26in the Mediterranean
41:27was effectively
41:28at an end
41:28and the U-boats
41:29in the Atlantic
41:30under control
41:33within nine months
41:34the Royal Navy's
41:35control of the seas
41:36was such
41:36that the massive
41:37Allied landings
41:38on the Normandy coast
41:39of occupied France
41:40went ahead
41:41without any interruption
41:43the turpets lurking
41:45in her Norwegian
41:46fjord
41:47remained a major threat
41:51during the spring
41:52and summer of 1944
41:54the home fleet
41:55launched two air
41:56attacks from carriers
41:57against her
42:11the air
42:12although the fleet
42:12air arm
42:13pressed these home
42:14with great skill
42:14and courage
42:15it became obvious
42:16that its aircraft
42:17could not carry weapons
42:18powerful enough
42:19to inflict significant damage
42:27eventually the task
42:29of sinking her
42:29was passed
42:30to RAF
42:31bomber command
42:35using the specially developed
42:3712,000 pound
42:38tall boy bomb
42:39Lancaster bombers
42:40finally sank
42:41turpets
42:42on the 12th of November
42:431944
42:47the German naval threat
42:49from Norway
42:50Norway
42:50had at last been eliminated
43:00for the men of the Royal Navy
43:02their six year campaign
43:03to save Britain
43:04finally ended
43:05in May 1945
43:06as the U-boats surrendered
43:09one of them
43:10was sailed up
43:11the river Thames
43:11flying the white ensign
43:12and put on display
43:14in central London
43:19the war
43:20but the war was not yet over
43:27more than three years earlier
43:29preparations had begun
43:30in the far east
43:31for a crucial blow
43:32to the allies
43:36Japanese aircraft
43:37roared in
43:38from a carrier task force
43:39to catch the US fleet base
43:41at Pearl Harbor
43:42completely off guard
43:43other forces
43:44advanced simultaneously
43:45against the British colonies
43:47in Hong Kong
43:48and Malay
43:56as in the west
43:57the Pacific War
43:58began disastrously
44:00for the Royal Navy
44:04in a vain attempt
44:06to reinforce
44:06the fleet's
44:07main base in Singapore
44:08Force Z
44:09consisting of
44:10the battleship's
44:11Repulse
44:12and Prince of Wales
44:13was sent to the far east
44:15but they lacked
44:16air support
44:17and were soon
44:18caught at sea
44:18by Japanese bombers
44:19and sunk
44:20on the 10th of December
44:26of the Pacific
44:27unable to spare
44:27any more ships
44:28from European waters
44:29the Navy was forced
44:31to withdraw
44:31first to Colombo
44:32in today's Sri Lanka
44:33and then back
44:34across the Indian Ocean
44:35to the East African
44:36port of Mombasa
44:41although the sea lanes
44:42to India
44:42were kept open
44:43it was not until 1945
44:45as the European war
44:47was coming to an end
44:48that the Royal Navy
44:49returned in force
44:50to the Pacific
44:59to the Pacific
45:01and the U.S. Pacific
45:03fleet
45:03and fought
45:04alongside it
45:05during the landings
45:06on Okinawa
45:07and the final air
45:08attacks
45:08on the Japanese
45:09mainland
45:32alongside the U.S. Navy
45:34the Royal Navy's ships
45:35were subjected
45:36to the terrifying
45:37ordeal
45:37of kamikaze attacks
45:39although a number of ships
45:41although a number of ships
45:41were hit
45:41the armoured flight decks
45:43of the British carriers
45:43proved much greater protection
45:45than the wooden decks
45:46of their American counterparts
45:47and none was sunk
45:49or put out of action
45:50for long
45:59when General Douglas MacArthur
46:01took the formal Japanese surrender
46:03on board the battleship
46:04USS Missouri
46:05in Tokyo Bay
46:06on the 1st of September 1945
46:08Bruce Fraser was present
46:10and signed the surrender document
46:12on behalf of the British Empire
46:22The sacrifice made by the Royal Navy
46:24during World War II
46:26was enormous
46:27it lost 5 capital ships
46:2910 carriers
46:3131 cruisers
46:32and 146 destroyers
46:35over 50,000 of its personnel
46:37perished
46:39but the spirit
46:40which had
46:41over the centuries
46:42made the Royal Navy
46:43Britain's bulwark
46:44remained as strong as ever
46:47the Navy never hesitated
46:49to engage the enemy more closely
46:51as Admiral Horatio Nelson
46:53had urged his fleet
46:54before the Battle of Trafalgar
46:56the six-year battle
46:58fought by the gladiators
46:59of the Royal Navy
47:00in every ocean of the world
47:02not only saved their country
47:04but played a crucial role
47:05in saving the free world
47:32for the San Jose
47:33and the Royal Navy
47:33are one of the big players
47:36who has a special role
47:36to the Royal Navy
47:36that is in the永遠
47:41as the Royal Navy
47:41is the only way
47:43to the Royal Navy
47:44for the Royal Navy
47:45and a huge amount
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