(dramatic music) (water rushing) - [Narrator] He is careful
to put as many lookouts and gunners as he can on deck. The skies stay clear but only for 45 minutes. Lookout spots something
off the port quarter. They identify warships, including an aircraft
carrier, heading their way. What you do is you make a
guess as to where the target is and how fast it's going
and what direction. He takes a quick look
around with a periscope. It'll be supplemented by other things, but it's really all on his shoulders. - [Officer] Distance:
2200 yards and decreasing. - [Narrator] O'Kane calls
the destroyer's range. Morton plots the attack. - Fire three. - Three firing. - [Narrator] As he fires three torpedoes, it costs more than an
eighth of Wahoo's ordinance, but increases the odds
he'll sink the target before it sinks him. (dramatic music) When the first three torpedoes miss, Morton increases the destroyer's
speed in his calculation to 20 knots and fires. (torpedo firing) They miss again. Wahoo has expended its
ammunition to no avail. Worse, they have drawn the
attention of the sub destroyer. - You're a submarine officer. As long as you're submerged,
not bothering anybody, you're invisible and you're safe. Every time you fire a torpedo, if it's visible, that gives the other side
an incentive to get you. - [Narrator] But Morton does not attempt to dive into darkness. He leaves the periscope up, announcing Wahoo's exact position. He has just two more torpedoes
loaded in the forward tubes. Destroyer charges. Ramming a submarine to damage its hull is a crude but effective tactic. For Wahoo, the close proximity
leaves no time to evade. If its torpedoes miss,
the only option left is an extremely risky shot. Sailors call it, Down the Throat. Morton aims the shot straight
at the ship's narrow bow. (dramatic music) - He has no other option. If he doesn't, the
destroyer has all the speed and maneuverability to
pound them into the silt. And there's nothing he can do about it. So he's forcing him to attack and trying to change the attack into a situation where he
can have the advantage. - [Narrator] As the destroyer closes in, Morton's timing has to be perfect. If they fire from more than 1200 yards, the destroyer has time to evade. But within 700 yards, the torpedo won't have
time to arm and detonate. - At fire two. - [Narrator] They release two torpedoes. (torpedo firing) (torpedo firing) (torpedo firing) (dramatic music) The first flies wide. The skipper and his
crew must wait and hope the second torpedo finds its mark. (water splashing) Less than a minute after the
previous shot flies wide, the second torpedo to
fire, Down the Throat, lands a direct hit. (torpedo exploding) The blow cripples the destroyer's hull. - We got a hit. - [Narrator] Wahoo plunges
deep under the damaged ship to avoid a collision
and escape the carnage. A little after 3:00 AM, lookouts spot a darkened ship. All agree that it appears
to be a submarine. Burlingame works his way
around to better identify it. - Burlingame suspects this could
be another American vessel, so he heads to the west, and when he does so he
crosses a moon slick, and the lookouts on the
other vessel spot it. (officers speaking foreign language) - [Narrator] The vessel
turns towards Silversides and begins to approach. His lookouts report the vessel closing in. - [James] Burlingame orders his signalmen to flash a recognition
signal in Morse code. - [Narrator] The vessel
continues to charge. A second signal is answered
with a green flashing light. It's not Morse code. It is definitely an enemy vessel. (dramatic music) Burlingame orders all ahead
full to outrun the ship. Then he orders the crew
to battle stations, to ready their stern torpedoes. As the pursuer closes to 4,000 yards, Silversides fires. The first torpedo explodes prematurely, 2000 yards from Silversides. The second torpedo fails to hit. The enemy continues to close
the distance on the submarine. - Prepare the bridge! - [Narrator] They don't have
time to set up another attack. Top side, the enemy ship prepares to drop special underwater bombs
to sink submarines, called Depth Charges. - Submarines are invisible
if you're on the surface. So, if you want to attack a submarine, there has to be some way
of getting close to it, even if you don't know
exactly where it is. During World War I, the British discovered that if you explode something very close to a submarine, it'll sink it. The water will act as a hammer, it'll puncture the submarine. So, they invent the Depth Charge. The Depth Charge is a can of explosive, fused in such a way that when it hits a certain said depth, it goes off. (Depth Charge exploding) - [Narrator] The first
of four Depth Charges explodes the stern of Silversides. (Depth Charge exploding) (Depth Charge exploding) (Depth Charge exploding) (Depth Charge exploding) - You guess the depth of the submarine. Typically you drop a lot of Depth Charges. You're supposed to do it in a pattern so that even if your guess is wrong, you'll probably get the
sub or shake it up badly. - [Narrator] Depth Charges
rattle the submarine. But none come close enough
to inflict serious damage. As morning breaks, Burlingame
creeps up to periscope depth, but the destroyer charges
and drives them back down. On their second approach, the skipper finally gets a
good look at his attacker. It's a two-stack destroyer. Burlingame considers a counter attack but they are too far away. He watches the destroyer
disappear over the horizon. March 17th, 1943, Nazi U-boats have sunk more
than a dozen merchant ships, but U-530 is being hunted
by an Allied escort. - It's probably like going from positive adrenaline, like you're hunting
your prey in the woods, and all of a sudden a bear or a wolf would stand in front of you and then you have to run away. - [Narrator] But it's U-530's lucky day. HMS Beverly loses contact with the U-boat. When the seas fall silent,
the crew jumps into action. Carefully managing their
remaining battery power, they ascend in 30-foot intervals. - He has to conserve his battery fuel because he needs it for propulsion. Otherwise the submarine
would sink deeper and deeper. - [Narrator] After the two hour attack, Langa's crippled U-boat
breaks the surface. Their ordeal is over. (crew laughing) They are fortunate to be alive. Additional Allied attacks
throughout the day of March 17th force 12 German U-boats to
lose contact with a convoy. - [Mark] What you're trying to do, as the Escort Commander - - [Officer] Sailors clear! - is to break contact. It's a bonus if you can attack it, it's even better if you can sink it. - [Narrator] Gradually, the
scales tip in the allies favor. Although U-boats continue to pick away, the two convoys approach
the edge of the air gap. Allied aircraft can reach
the convoys from Europe. The Wolf Packs are now also
being hunted from the sky. Long-range air patrols, Liberators, Sunderlands and Fortresses
provide cover from the convoy, relieving pressure off
the exhausted escorts. - Like the cavalry coming over the hill, the arrival of coastal command aircraft alters the situation very significantly. Aircraft can force submarines down. Once submarines are submerged, their mobility is greatly reduced. - [Narrator] A 206
squadron Flying Fortress flies into a squall astern of the convoy, hoping to catch a U-boat unaware. (officers speaking foreign language) (alarm sounding) - [Narrator] The U-384
doesn't have a chance to dive before four Depth Charges are dropped. Explosions are spotted on
either side of the U-boat. U-384 sinks to the ocean floor, taking with it the crew of '47. The Nazis lethal weapon has
become their iron coffin. (submarine crashing) July 18th, 1945. USS Barb sits off the east
coast of Northern Japan. Commander Eugene Fluckey
considers an unusual target for a submarine. - He's been studying charts
and his own observations, and noticed there's trains
that travel at this hub on the Karafuto Island. - Infrastructure on the
island is less developed than on the mainland. The railway running along the coastline is practically the only
means to carry the stuff from the southern part to north, and northern part to the south. - [Narrator] Fluckey decides that he wants to target the train and the tracks to do maximum damage to
the Japanese war effort. This kind of precision will need more than deck guns or rockets. Members of the crew will have to go ashore and plant explosives on Japanese soil. They would use one of the
55 pound scuttling charges every submarine carries, in case it needs to be destroyed before falling into enemy hands. A micro switch will trigger
the explosive circuit. It should work something like this: the micro switch and scuttling charge are wired to a battery. When the train passes over,
the slight sag of the rail should depress the micro switch
and complete the circuit, triggering the blasting cap
to detonate the explosives. (explosives detonating) American submarine USS
Barb breaks new ground as their crew, turned commandos, attempt to become the first submarine crew to attack a train. But as they make their escape, the train comes barreling down the tracks toward the explosive device
they have just planted. And as the train approaches, all they can do is stop and watch. (train chugging past) (train exploding) - The report from Barb says that wreckage from this train was blown 200 feet in the
air, and I don't doubt it. The results after that
are a big fire, obviously, and a lot of secondary explosion. So, it must've been pretty spectacular. - When they see this explosion and they feel the rumble, time stops. They freeze and take it all in. And then the reality hits them. They start paddling again and the Commander starts to
maneuver his ship to head out. - [Narrator] The Raiders make it back and scramble to safely board Barb, and the submarine slips
away into the darkness. After convoy SE-7 is intercepted, Kretschmer and the rest
of the Wolf Pack close in. - And then the order would be given, that at the right moment in the dark of night,
you're free to attack. And then the Pack would come in. There's a lot at stake, not
simply in sinking the ships, but in creating that shock effect and demonstrating to the British that they can sink their shipping at will. - [Narrator] Schepke
and the other Commanders prepare to fire from outside the convoy. (officer speaking German) But Kretschmer has his own plan. (officer speaking German) At 10:00 PM, U-99 slinks past the escorts to ambush the enemy from
where they least expect it. - Kretschmer has this killer instinct. He is a perfectionist. So, he finds a way of sneaking in on the surface into the convoy. He manages, cold-blooded,
to sail inside the convoy and then starts to torpedo
the merchant vessels. (officer speaking German) - The first knowledge they have that there's an attack taking place is when an explosion strikes a ship and the flares start to go up. Then the escort has to react. - [Narrator] The Allies
target the convoy's perimeter, where the U-boats usually prowl. (guns firing) Others in the Wolf Pack
are forced to dive. But inside the convoy,
Kretschmer stays on the attack. (officers speaking German) (torpedo striking submarine) - It turned into a pyrotechnic nightmare. They're just sinking ships. Terrifying for the men in the convoy. Just terrifying. No one thought that they
would actually get inside the convoy in the dark of night, and spit death and destruction
on both ends at a high speed. - [Narrator] In the early
hours of October 19th, U-99 fires the last of its 14 torpedoes. (dramatic music) Convoy loses 20 ships while in transit. 80,000 tons of shipping
is lost to the war effort. Schepke claims three ships. Kretschmer, seven. Many more than any other ace, and one of Germany's first
Wolf Pack offensives. - It's a radically new
kind of use of submarines that the British simply
did not have defenses for. Once the Wolf Pack snares a convoy, it's chaos for the Allies. (officer speaking German) - [Narrator] October 25th, 1944. In the Formosa Strait dozens of Americans fight to survive a sunken submarine. (water rushing) USS Tang's stern sits on the bottom. The only escape hatch is at
the bow of the submarine. - The bow, which is still filled with air, is actually jutting out the waves, sort of like a knife blade,
if you will, coming up. - [Narrator] But with
Japanese escorts on the hunt, the exposed section makes them vulnerable. The men choose to sink their
damaged submarine to conceal it while they prepare to escape. - They decide to level the boat, to release all the air from
the four ballast tanks, and to let the bow of the tank come down and rest on the bottom. They release the air and the
Tang dives for a final time. - [Narrator] An hour after Tang sinks, the last of its crew reaches the bow. - Then they get to the
forward torpedo room. Several dozen men, they
ultimately all crowd inside and they seal that door. And inside that four torpedo
room is the escape chamber. - [Narrator] The entire submarine lies 180 feet below the surface. As Tang's crew prepares
to brave the ocean, another attack stops them short. - As these men are there, crowded inside the forward compartment, terrified about how they're gonna make it 180 feet up to the surface, the Japanese are coming over and they're dropping Depth Charges. (Depth Charge exploding) So, here they are stuck on the bottom and their boat's still being rattled. The conditions at this point in the forward torpedo
room of the Tang are awful. The battery compartments are on fire. It's hazy at this point. The air pressure's rising and the heat and humidity are rising. All of these things combine to sap the energy from these men, who are facing this life or death struggle as to how to get off of this sunken boat. - [Narrator] 13 men muster the strength to attempt an escape. - [James] It's a really daunting
task because at 180 feet it's the equivalent of
an 18-story building. - [Narrator] At 8:00 AM,
Tang's escape hatch closes for the last time. - [James] When they first
step out, it's very dark. You can't see anything. And the farther they go
up toward the surface the water around them begins to lighten. (sad, dramatic music) - [Narrator] Only five of the
13 men survive the ascent. - Even those who escape and
make it all the way to surface aren't necessarily guaranteed to survive. In fact, for some of those men, they watch others come
up who are vomiting, blood is coming out of their noses, who are so exhausted and
so sick at this point that they ultimately drown just a few feet away from their friends, their bodies carried out by the tide. - [Narrator] November 11th, 1944. British submarine HMS Venturer has weathered the rough Norwegian sea on its eighth war patrol. Their top secret mission
is to deliver supplies to resistance fighters in occupied Norway. As HMS Venturer travels north, a crew member spots a shape
through the search periscope. Through the dark and rough seas, he makes out the conning
tower of another submarine. He doesn't know it, but he
has found German U-boat U-771. The submarine's captain is
Lieutenant James Launders. Only 25 years old, Launders
joined the Royal Navy as a cadet in 1938, before Britain declared war. Launders must act quickly
before the U-boat spots him. - If he spots your periscope, nobody can take counteraction better than another submarine Commander. So, therefore you have to strike while the iron is very hot indeed. - [Narrator] Launders sneaks
a look through the periscope, then asks for the target's
speed, range and bearing. - [Launders] Speed and range? - Estimated speed: 13 knots. - [Narrator] They estimate
the U-boat is making 13 knots. - [Launders] Full ahead together. Down periscope. - [Narrator] He orders Venturer
to close in on the U-boat while he works out his calculations and the torpedoes are readied. He won't get another chance. He must get it right. - He works out in his mind what the best chance of
hitting the target is. This will mean firing
all four in his tubes. - [Narrator] He will still
have four more torpedoes left, but not enough time to reload them before the U-boat could counter attack. - So, he wants to make
sure he gets the target. - [Narrator] Venturer closes in. Launders takes a final look. - [Launders] Speed and range? - [Narrator] The U-boat is
in Venturer's cross-hairs. - [Officer] 2,000 yards. - [Narrator] The torpedo crew is ready and waits for Launders' command. Launders orders the
spread of four torpedoes. - Fire. - [Narrator] Mark VIII torpedoes speed toward the German U-boat
at over 50 miles per hour. Each contains 805 pounds
of the explosive Torpex. (torpedoes exploding) Venturer's crew hears the
explosion through the hull. The hydrophone operator loses the sound of the U-boat's propeller. There is nothing more
from U-771's position. Remarkably, the whole attack takes place in just six minutes. Launders is later awarded the Distinguished Service
Order for sinking U-771. - His great virtue as
a submarine commander is his ability to sum
things up very, very quickly in his own mind and carry out an attack rapidly and effectively. And he's very good at that. - [Narrator] After the surprise attack, Venturer resumes its original mission, putting supplies ashore in Norway. May, 1941. British submarine HMS Upholder has just sunk the Italian
troopship Conte Rosso. The sub's captain, Lieutenant
Commander Malcolm Wanklyn, fired his last two
torpedoes into the liner. Their trail in the water leads the destroyers protecting the convoy directly to their position. The destroyers take immediate action to find and sink Upholder. With no remaining torpedoes, Upholder cannot defend itself. Its damaged ASDIC, or sonar,
means the crew has lost its ability to listen
and locate the enemy. Wanklyn must rely on his instinct to outmaneuver the destroyers
now hunting for him. - [Wanklyn] Keep 150 feet. - [Narrator] Wanklyn's
best chance is to escape, but he's limited by his submarine. - Submarines of this period
are very slow underwater, and the U-class worked slow even by contemporary submarine standards. This is why it's very useful, if you're being attacked, to know where the enemy is so
you can take avoiding action, using what limited mobility you've got. - [Narrator] The sound of
the destroyers' propellers gets louder and louder, until they're right overhead. All Upholder's crew can
do is wait for the attack. (Depth Charge exploding) Depth Charges begin to rain
down around the submarine. (Depth Charges exploding) - Sitting on a submarine under attack is probably the most terrifying thing you could possibly imagine. Unable to do anything at all except sit. (Depth Charges exploding) (water bursting through walls) - [Narrator] Attack follows attack. (Depth Charges exploding) - Starboard, 30! - [Narrator] Wanklyn continues to order course and speed changes. - Keep 70 feet. - [Narrator] Being unpredictable makes it harder for the
destroyers to track the submarine. (Depth Charges exploding) Another turn. (Depth Charges exploding) Very little separates the crew
from the explosions outside. - Slow ahead both. - [Narrator] Wanklyn continues
to give course alterations to escape the Italian destroyers overhead. - [Wanklyn] Keep 100
feet, and full ahead both. - [Narrator] But one Depth Charge comes too close for comfort. (Depth Charge exploding) Then another. (Depth Charge exploding) - When it is incredibly close, it can be shattering glass,
it can be shattering gauges. It can be all kinds of things. - [Wanklyn] Keep 150 feet. (Depth Charges exploding) (submarine rattling) (Depth Charges exploding) - [Narrator] But then,
the explosions stop. The crew later reports
an awful creaking noise, like the scraping of wire along the hull. As they fear for their safety, Wanklyn takes time to assure his crew. - One of the things he does
is give a running commentary of the noises that are going on outside. So, he's giving the crew confidence that it's the fate of the
Conte Rosso that they can hear, not a coming fight for them. - [Narrator] Two hours later, Upholder finally breaks the surface. The destroyers are gone. Lookouts spot an enemy
vessel only four miles away. Burlingame decides the small boat does not warrant an expensive torpedo. He expects Silversides'
deck gun will do the job. From its crew of 70, young officers and sailors
hustle to their battle stations for the first time. Their three-inch 50 caliber gun can fire 25-pound armor-piercing shells at up to three rounds per minute, at a range of nearly 15,000 yards. Burlingame unleashes his attack. - [Burlingame] Fire! - [Officer] Fire! (gun firing) (machine guns firing) But the Japanese boat returns fire and a gun battle erupts. - [Officer] Elevate 15! - [Burlingame] Fire! - [Officer] Fire! (gun firing) - [Narrator] The Ebisu Maru Number Five is a 131 ton wooden fishing trawler. Even civilian ships like fishing boats have been armed to defend Japan. (machine gun firing) - [Burlingame] Fire! (gun firing) (machine gun firing) - [Narrator] Japanese machine gun bullets whiz past the sailors and ping off the conning tower. (machine guns firing) - Basically, they are armed,
mainly the machine guns and two or three, you
know, the Depth Charges. And, of course, the radio. I don't think the Silversides had the right idea of
the mission of the ship. - [Narrator] Burlingame as
underestimated the enemy. - So, at this point,
it's all hands on deck. Not only are the gunners working top side, the crews down below are
literally ripping open ammunition boxes and forming an ammo chain to hand these projectiles
up from the submarine, all the way up so that they
can be fired from the gun. (gun firing) As the gunfight is unfolding, the crew's shots are getting
more and more accurate. So, they're actually punching
into this Japanese trawler, and it suddenly erupts in flames. Rather than run away, ultimately it turns and starts charging
toward the Silversides. - [Narrator] The Ebisu Maru continues to fire its machine gun on the submarine. - [James] So, the crew on
deck is having to take cover as bullets were literally zinging past. - [Burlingame] Fire! (gun firing) (machine gun firing) - One of these bullets
ultimately hits one of the men in his helmet, and he says
it's like a sledgehammer. Knocks him down, knocks him out. - [Narrator] Despite the injury,
the ammo chain continues, the shells passing from hand to hand. (machine gun firing) But then another crew member, Mike Harbin, turns to pass a shell to
the next loader in line, when he is hit too. - It takes a second. Mike Harbin drops to the
deck and the other crews continue to hand the shells
off one after the other. And then everybody stops
and looks down and realizes that my Mike Harbin has gone down, and there's blood coming
out on the deck around him. - [Narrator] In shock, the crew freezes, despite the ongoing firefight. - To snap them out of it, Worthington un-holsters his pistol, lowers it by his side, and he shouts to the men,
"get back on that damn gun or I'll shoot everyone." - Let's move now! Load it, let's go! Keep firing fire! Faster, go! Keep moving! (guns firing) (dramatic music) - [Narrator] Finally, engulfed in flames, the picket boat stops firing. Burlingame calls off the attack, and expects it to sink, but it does not. In the first battle of their first patrol a crew member has been killed. - It's something that haunts Burlingame. The Ebisu Maru wasn't worth
the price of a torpedo. But in the end, it cost much more. - [Narrator] April 9th,
1944, Easter Sunday. Once again, U-boat Commander
Werner Henke's batteries are running out of power. - Henke has to surface his boat, whether he wants it or not, because without a minimum
charge of the batteries, he is virtually helpless. He can't dive. He can't evade any danger. - [Narrator] There has been no sign of their stalkers for hours. Henke decides to surface. He is careful to put as
many lookouts and gunners as he can on deck. The skies stay clear,
but only for 45 minutes. Lookouts spot something
off the port quarter. The identify warships, including an aircraft
carrier heading their way. Henke immediately orders a crash dive. Onboard USS Guadalcanal, along with more fighter planes, gallery orders destroyer escorts
USS Pillsbury and Flarherty to locate and engage the enemy. - All ahead flank. - [Narrator] Destroyer
escorts carry a new weapon called the Hedgehog. - [Man] It was called a
Hedgehog because it looked like a bunch of porcupines quills. It fired 24 mortar rounds. They made a circular pattern in the water. - The actual new feature is that you can keep your sonar contact with your U-boat while attacking. They don't interfere with
your detection signal, so you can keep the contact
and go in for another attack. - [Narrator] With USS
Flarherty in support, Pillsbury launches a Hedgehog attack. - Open fire. (torpedoes firing) - [Narrator] One round
makes contact and explodes. (torpedoes exploding) U-515 plunges, as the water rushes to the rear of the submarine. U-boat Commander Werner Henke and his crew work frantically to level the U-boat and stop it from sinking. The weight of the water drags
the stern of the U-boat down by over 20 degrees. By replacing the water
in the tank with air, it should lighten the submarine. At last, at a depth of about 660 feet, U-515 returns to balance. But then the submarine over-corrects, and water from the stern moves forward, which makes the bow heavier. Instead of gaining an even keel, the entire U-boat now rises
rapidly to the surface by the stern. (dramatic music) All of the sudden, the
U-boat breaks the surface, out of control and at a very sharp angle. - U-boat! U-boat! - [Narrator] Henke gives
the order to abandon ship. He climbs onto the bridge. The destroyer escorts Pope, Chatelaine and
Flarherty encircle U-515, while Pillsbury and the escort carrier USS Guadalcanal close in. - The American vessels surrounding him and airplanes flowing over his head. And, yeah, so, this was the moment of defeat. (slow cheerful music)
