- [Narrator] The maritime
variant being developed for the Navy is capable of hovering. This will be flown by Royal
Navy and Royal Air Force pilots off the Queen Elizabeth. (airplane whizzing) (dramatic music) - [Narrator] It's time for the
Bush herself to take a shot. (intense music) She has one more weapon on
board, a close-in weapon system, commonly known as the CIWS. (intense music) (gun firing)
(intense music) This 20 millimeter Vulcan cannon lives inside a swiveling
base almost 15 feet high. (dramatic music) In the top of its housing,
the CIWS has two antennas. They pick up the incoming
threat and direct its fire. (gun firing) In action, it spits out
4,500 rounds a minute, each bullet twice as big as
the standard US machine guns'. (intense music)
(gun firing) It's capable of shooting
targets up to five miles away. (intense music) A day before the Bush
reaches the Sou-West, her crew gives the CIWS one last tune up. During the transit, it will be the Bush's last line of defense. (intense music) - Anybody who wants to try and attack her, they're gonna have a pretty
rough time answering her. We can put a lot of
ordnance down real fast. (gun firing)
(intense music) We're ready for anything. (intense music) - [Narrator] The sailors may feel ready, but the question is are they ready enough? (intense music) Ready or not, it's time. (soft music) It's day four of Sea Trials, and a very special one for
Britain's supercarrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth. - The focus for today, which is a historic one,
is the first landing of a helicopter from A20 Squadron on our flight deck. It's the day we become
an aircraft carrier. (intense music) - [Narrator] The flight deck
teams have been training for this day for nearly two years. (intense music) First, they must walk the
length of the carrier, bigger in area than three football fields, to make sure there is no debris that could damage the aircraft. - No contamination, the only place that's taken fuel is not safe. - [Narrator] Two helicopters are expected. Although right now they're running late. - The one thing, perhaps, I'll
bring out is this morning, we woke up in, what we
would call, Red Red, really poor conditions,
cloud was on the deck, no visibility whatsoever. We probably wouldn't
have been able to fly. The good news about a carrier, it's driven at 70 miles, we need to drive, we're back
into the clearance again, and we've positioned
ourselves so that we can fly. The thing that's holding the aircraft up is that bad weather we've just left, so that's why they're late. - [Crew] There is nothing
that you haven't done on the flight deck during the
last few training serials. It's a walk in the park, okay? We're ready to do this. Everyone happy? - Happy? Right, guys, let's do it. Be safe. (indistinct) - [Crew] Have we got
this aircraft, captain? Weather, happy. Have you let him know about the seabirds? - [Crew] Negative, sir. - [Crew] Roger that. (intense music) - Historical problem with seabirds flying close to the ship, we're just monitoring the seabirds. There's not a lot we can do about it other than go a bit faster, and hopefully leave them behind. We certainly wouldn't want one of the helicopters
flying into a seabird and getting a bird strike, 'cause that would cause some mayhem. So just something we've gotta manage. In old money, we'd have
probably got out a shotgun and just let 'em know we were around, but we can't do that anymore. (dramatic music) - [Narrator] The seabirds disperse and make way for the first aircraft ever to attempt a landing on
the Queen Elizabeth's deck. (dramatic music)
(blades chopping) The flight deck of the
supercarrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth, is about to be christened. - [Crew] Historic moment.
(dramatic music) - M in its port. (dramatic music) - Truly a momentous day, not only for the supercarrier, for the Queen Elizabeth class, but for naval aviation. First naval aircraft landing
on board the supercarrier. Bloody marvelous. Fortune of things to come,
next year it will be jets. (dramatic music) - It's fantastic. Well, we're four days out from sailing from the builders yard, and here we are with A20
naval escort have arrived, two aircraft, fantastic. (dramatic music) (indistinct) (dramatic music) - [Crew] Flight two on deck. (upbeat music) (intense music) - [Narrator] The most important
part of any aircraft carrier is also the most
dangerous; the flight deck. - [Mark] Whoa! - A floating airfield
for warplanes loaded with fuel, bombs, and pistons. The risks are enormous. - Increase the traction. - [Narrator] Computer
simulation helps the aircrew plan for the worst. - Launch the jet.
(dramatic music) Whoa! (crew laughing) Maritime aviation at its best. Operating at sea is not rocket science, but operating at sea is bloody dangerous. There's a whole load of
people who've gone before us who have learnt the hard way as to why you do certain things. I'd be a bloody fool to ignore
what our forefathers did. That's nice, there you go. There, we've solved the problem. (Mark clicking) It's probably worth just
explaining about an airfield. An airfield has a 10,000
foot runway, okay? And we know what's gonna
happen on the runway, that's where the jets are gonna
be taking off and landing. So at the same time on that airfield, you're gonna have to have a bomb dump, you're gonna have to have a fuel dump, you're gonna have somewhere
you're gonna house everyone, and there'll be an HQ section, but of all of those in a 2,000 acre estate are spread out. You keep the bombs away from the runway, you keep the fuel away from the runway, you keep the fuel away
from the accommodation. Our ship, which although the biggest thing the Navy's ever built, compared to this 10,000 foot runway, our ship is there. We've got a metal box, in there, there'll be a magazine, there'll be the fuel, and if you think of the flight deck area, and all the armed aircraft up there that are both operating,
rearming, refueling, there's a lot of potential
risks that we have to manage. (blades chopping)
(indistinct) - [Narrator] Without their
own flight deck to train on, The Queen Elizabeth aircraft
handlers are practicing on a dummy deck ashore. (blades chopping) It's only a third the size of their own, and the old decommissioned
carrier jets can't even fly, but things are moving forward. - There will be things
we're getting wrong, but ultimately, this is our practice. When we do it on the deck for real, with the ship maneuvering, with a bit more sort of
operational pressure, we can't afford to get it wrong, so we'll get all our
mistakes out the way here, and then when the real jets turn up, we'll be in a better place. (intense music) - [Narrator] The real jets will be top secret F-35B Lightning
stealth fighters. These are still in development and kept strictly under wraps, so none of the deck
handlers have ever seen one, much less handled one. - Good afternoon, everybody. I'm just gonna give you a little depth on the fixed wing replica of an F-35B, life-size, it's to scale. Right, so look around- - [Narrator] So not an actual F-35, but a life-sized fiberglass model. Eventually their job
will be to maneuver these around the deck, and guide
the pilots into position. This will give them a
feel for the real thing. - [Crew] Compared to a Harrier, I didn't realize how big it was. - [Emma] It's massive. - [Narrator] 29 year old Emma Ranson, from Liverpool, newly
promoted to Petty Officer, will be the first flight deck
leader on the Queen Elizabeth. So this full-sized replica is
a glimpse into her own future. - Amazing, I mean, what
can you say about it? Just amazing. It's just going to help
our training out loads. It's just gonna really benefit
us as aircraft handlers, moving this around the deck. Just unbelievable. I'm dead excited now. I can't wait just to get it moving. - [Narrator] So, Emma, with her new toy, now has a much more realistic
way of training her team. - [Narrator] By April 1975, the situation in Vietnam
was very different. American troops had now withdrawn, and the North Vietnamese were poised to take the South's capital, Saigon. (intense music) US carriers were now involved
in a last minute evacuation of American civilians
and South Vietnamese. On April 29th, Midway's crew spotted a small civilian aircraft approaching. They watched as the plane circled, and noticed a small package being thrown onto the
carrier's flight deck. It was a pistol wrapped in a note. It read, "Can you move the helicopters "to the other side? "I can land on your runway. "I can fly for one hour more. "Please rescue me! "Major Buang, wife and five child." Major Buang-Ly was a South
Vietnamese Air Force officer. The only way Major Buang can land is if the US Navy helicopters
on the overcrowded deck are moved out of the way. The Midway's captain didn't hesitate. He ordered several of his helicopters to be pushed off the flight
deck and into the sea. - About $10 million worth
of American air capacity pushed off the deck to save
this one man and his family. - [Narrator] But with the
flight deck now cleared, Major Buang still had a problem. His light aircraft was not
designed to land on a carrier. It had no tail hook to
catch the arresting wire. Plus there was a strong crosswind. The American onlookers held their breath and watched the Major
make a perilous landing. (intense music) The men of the Midway were so impressed by Major Buang's bravery,
they started a fund to help him and his
family start a new life in the United States. (intense music) - One of the things I've
always been fascinated by is engineering innovation, and steam is a perfect example of that. It helped us in the industrial revolution, and now today, on the USS Carl Vinson, we're using it to catapult
F-18s off a flight deck. And through all that, the
basic properties of steam, they've stayed the same. When water is heated into steam, it expands in volume over 1,000 times. It's a law of physics that
engineers first mastered in the 18th century, when
they used it to create the piston engine. Over 300 years later, Nimitz engineers are using the same principle
on the Carl Vinson. The system that runs
it is deep below decks. (steam blowing) The start of our steam
system all starts right here. Just beneath us is the power plant, and all that steam comes
up through this giant duct and it's actually fed through into our steam fill room right in here, where we've got three control valves to keep that system pressurized at just the right amount. Now, believe it or not, there's three other rooms just like this. What you see here, this is
only for catapult number two. The steam from each catapult is stored in two giant cylinders of pistons, each about as long as a football field. The pistons are connected to
the catapult shuttle on deck. To launch a plane, the
pressure is suddenly released, driving the piston and catapult forwards at 150 miles per hour. (upbeat music) There are actually four
catapults on board. Each has its own engine
room and dedicated crew above and below the flight deck. (upbeat music) - Hey, stand by, recruit. Hey, Truman, hey, can you
turn on the bridle tension? What you got? You have five-zero? Okay, go ahead and get back up, bro. - [Chad] When they get the signal, they fill these pipes with steam and bring it to pressure,
arming the catapult. (upbeat music) Then they wait for the
signal that will shift a 35 ton fighter from standstill to 150 miles an hour in
just two and a half seconds. (upbeat music) It's a system that
leaves no room for error, which is why it gets tested
twice a day, every day. In just a few minutes, I'm
gonna be able to witness a no load from the catapult. It's basically when they test the catapult before any day they're doing operations with no load on it. This thing's gonna fly by us
at about 150 miles an hour and I get to be two feet away. (upbeat music) Pilots' lives depend on this
engineering working perfectly, which is why crew go through
this routine so carefully. (upbeat music) So we're loading up right now, we're bringing back the catapult. This is a safety line, foul line, everyone's gotta make sure that they're standing behind it, and then we're gonna launch
this all the way down. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (indistinct) (indistinct) Wow. (upbeat music) (man laughing) (indistinct)
(upbeat music) Now that was some serious engineering. (upbeat music) - [Narrator] The George
HW Bush aircraft carrier sails deep within the Arabian Gulf. (machinery buzzing) Seven levels below the flight deck, aviation ordnancemen are hard at work. (machinery buzzing) They must build bombs for the day's strike mission against ISIS. - All the components will come separately in order to tailor-make
the different bombs for the different pilots and the different needs that they have. - [Narrator] Bombs come in three sizes. They can level everything from a sedan to an underground bunker. The smallest are 500 pounds and seven feet when fully assembled. The biggest are nearly 13 feet and weigh almost 2,000 pounds. It takes at least 10 sailors
to assemble one bomb. - I'll be on tail two.
- Roger. - Right now we're building up the GBU-54. This is typically used
for a mobile target. For instance, if you have someone in a car that you're trying to defeat, you'll normally use this kind of bomb. - [Narrator] The GBU-54 is a type of bomb called a JDAM. That stands for Joint
Direct Attack Munition, meaning it's guided by
a GPS or a laser lock onto a target.
(intense music) First up, the ordnance
team assembles the nose. It contains the laser
seeker that allows the bomb to track its target after
it's left the plane. Next they insert the fuse and
install the safety switch. These keep the bomb safe on the jet, and enable it to detonate upon impact. Without these, a JDAM is
just a $20,000 hunk of metal. There is one final
ingredient to an AO's recipe for explosive success. The tail kit, a necessary feature that steers the bomb to its target. (intense music) - [Crew] All right. - [Narrator] Pickens
and her team know that without their work, the fight against ISIS is a hopeless cause. - It is my job to ensure
that I'm sending up a quality product to the pilot. I have to make sure that
product is gonna go boom when he tells it to go boom. (intense music) - [Narrator] In just a few hours, the team churns out 10 JDAMs
for the strike mission. (intense music) And sends the live
bombs to the flight deck on one of four weapons elevators. (upbeat music) - [Narrator] HMS Queen
Elizabeth is three months into a four month deployment
off the East Coast of America. The F-35s can now launch with
weapons for the first time. - These weapons are laser
and GPS-guided weapons, but they're actually concrete, so they've got the real front section, the real half section, but the actual middle
section isn't explosive, it's just concrete. For us, as testers, we care
about the aerodynamic fall, but what we don't concern ourselves about is whether the bomb goes bang. - [Narrator] Wizzer, the
first to execute an SRVL, will be the first to drop
bombs from the Queen Elizabeth. - [Crew] (indistinct) launch the jet. - Launch the jet. (plane whizzing) - [Wizzer] Nice and deep, turning left, up she comes, going 11-9, good exit. - [Crew] (indistinct) approved stall. Gentlemen, downwind, next bars. - [Narrator] Wizzer lines
up for his bomb run, and every move is monitored and measured by civilian scientists. - [Crew] I'm getting
permission, slowly but surely, for the ship to do it
on this next pass round. Are you guys ready? - Affirm.
- Affirm. - Control's ready.
- They might be inert bombs that Wizzer is carrying, but this is the first time the F-35B has released weapons at sea. - [Crew] 86-5 approved, exiting doors. - [Crew] We look to be in range. - [Narrator] The F-35B is
about to drop bombs at sea for the first time. The question is whether they
will release successfully. - [Crew] We're releasing,
five, four, three, one. Releasing, one, two, three, four. And all bombs are away. - [Crew] Looks good. - [Narrator] The fighter
jet warship combination is beginning to realize
its full lethal potential. - That puts us in a very, very sound place to protect ourselves and maintain peace, which, ultimately, is what it's all about. It's really maintaining the peace, right? We don't wanna use it. I, personally, don't wanna see it used. If it has to be used, I get it. - [Crew] One away, two away. - I want it to be seen as the fighter you really don't wanna go up against. It's the deterrent to prevent the war and keep the peace, and that would just be icing on the cake for me, that would be the cherry on top, that would be perfect. It's what I'd like to be. (intense music) - [Narrator] The USS Bush
steams toward the Middle East for a six month deployment. Permission to help ground
troops defeat ISIS. (plane whizzing) On the flight deck, the Air Wing works to keep their skills fresh and sharp. - We start flight operations
early in the morning and we go til late in the evening, oftentimes around midnight.
(intense music) The training is intense. (radio crackling) - [Crew] Amber beacon, sir. (radio crackling) - [Narrator] The most
challenging training runs happen at night. - [Crew] 300 airborne. - [Crew] 300 airborne. - [Narrator] For security, the Bush keeps her deck lights low. The deck crew must use
extra caution as they work. - [Jim] The flight deck is an extremely dangerous environment, with props and rotors
and jet engines turning. (plane whizzing) - [Narrator] The crew uses glow sticks to identify their positions
and direct the planes. (plane whizzing)
(intense music) Some nights, the moon
provides extra light. - [Crew] Five, six, fall. - [Narrator] Tonight,
it's like shooting off into a black hole. Except for the light of the afterburner. (intense music)
(plane whizzing) Then, there's also the nighttime landing. (plane whizzing) From the cockpit of an F-18 Super Hornet, the deck looks like this. (plane whizzing) - When you're coming back
to an aircraft carrier, particularly at night, it is oftentimes the most intense portion of the flight, and that includes combat flights. (intense music)
(plane whizzing) - [Narrator] As the Bush cruises
through the Mediterranean, Farrell and the other Air Wing pilots train around the clock. Soon it will become more
than just training runs. (plane whizzing) (upbeat music) - [Narrator] Throughout her history, accidents have claimed many, but there was one day
when the Enterprise faced her most dire threat. (intense music) One that nearly destroyed her. January 14th, 1969. The Enterprise is 75
nautical miles from Hawaii, bound for the waters off Vietnam. (rocket exploding) A rocket explodes on the flight deck, igniting a massive fire. (intense music) Multiple cameras mounted on
the tower and on the deck captured the horrific scene
as fuel tanks ignited, and more warheads exploded. Flames and smoke engulfed the ship. The blasts from 500 pound bombs
exploding on the flight deck tore the ship apart,
down to the water line. (intense music) Burning jet fuel spilled down, creating a suffocating inferno, above and below deck. (intense music) In just 20 minutes, more than
340 sailors were injured, many from the flight deck hose teams. (intense music) 28 men were killed. It is a story told often to
those aboard this ship today. (intense music) - Quite often I stand up here, and look out, and just try
to imagine the whole fantail engulfed in flames. There was some heroes that
day, without a doubt, for sure. So I've got a lot of respect
for the air boss that was here that day, and what he had to go against. He sat here and watched those people die, and he's asking people to come back out and get on the hoses to put out the fire, pull away the bodies to fight the fire. Well, then there was another explosion, and those people died, so he's up here having to tell people, please get back and fight the fire, fight the fire, 'cause he
doesn't want to lose the ship. (intense music) - [Narrator] Rebuilding
the Enterprise so she could return to duty took exactly 51 days. (intense music) - [Narrator] HMS Queen Elizabeth, most of the ship's
company remain below deck, living a subterranean existence, an enclosed, underground community. - [Chris] Wes, what have
you got there, shipmate? - All right, sir, how are you? - [Chris] Very well,
what have you got there? - Cheesecake.
- Cheesecake? - Yeah. - Is that high fiber, low
cholesterol, slimline cheesecake? - Yeah, slimline. - Good man, well done. - All right. - [Chris] Cheers, Wes. - Sometimes you go for days
without seeing daylight. Take 1,200 people, put them in a tin box, surround them with high
explosives ammunition, flammable fuel, running machinery, and then stick it in the
middle of the Atlantic, start doing some dangerous stuff, like rotary wing flying
and fixed wing flying, you have to be a special kind of person (Chris laughing) to not get flustered by that. (bell buzzing) - [Crew] Third floor flood. Flood in glitch machinery space- - [Narrator] With over 225
miles of piping on board, much of it high pressure,
flooding is a constant danger. - Support your party. Support party ready. - [Narrator] Floods are bad enough, but even worse are fuel leaks. (bell buzzing) - [Crew] Fire danger,
fire danger, fire danger, fire danger, fire danger- - [Narrator] And now,
1,000 miles out to sea, a leak of explosive fuel could
be the first deadly threat to this maiden voyage. (bell buzzing) - [Crew] Fire danger- - [Narrator] Training
kicks in immediately, and damage control teams are
on the scene within seconds. - [Crew] Fire danger, fire danger. A fuel spill, H November (indistinct). - There's been a fuel spill
through the other side, so obviously any fuel
anywhere is a fire danger. - [Crew] All right, follow me, 40 seconds, slip here, all right? - [Narrator] An aviation
fuel pipe has burst. One spark would be disastrous. Even just the vapors pose a danger. - Start cleaning up down there. If you start getting there,
lads start feeling dizzy, get them out, we'll rotate the crew, yeah? No more than 15 minutes
of time in there, yep? - All right, if you start
feeling dizzy or nauseous, out that way, all right?
- Okay. So they've managed to
stop the flood of fuel, obviously, the emergency
party is still on scene, so if it does flash up again, so for any reason, it's set on fire, we have the team to deal with it, so yeah, that's- - [Cameraman] There's an
overwhelming smell of fuel. - Oh, it stinks, yeah, it's horrendous. (machine beeping) - [Narrator] Much of the
ship is highly automated, but here are some things that still have to be
done by hand, or foot. - She's a big girl, 65,000 tons, and there are 1,200 plus
people on here today. When you actually look
at the size of the ship and the amount of people,
it's still a big piece of real estate for not that many people to actually get around everyday, clean, and do firefighting,
and do first aid party, and do their normal jobs. US aircraft carrier of an equivalent size has a ship's company of about 5,000. We've got 1,200. - Just watch your footing as you're coming up the steps, team. It is a building site, there
is loads of ship hazard. Right, welcome aboard HMS Queen Elizabeth, the biggest project the Navy
has ever been involved in, the biggest ship the Navy has ever built. - [Narrator] The Queen Elizabeth
is split into 17 decks. (upbeat music) Eight above the flight
deck, and nine below. She has five miles of passageways, and over 3,000 compartments. HMS Queen Elizabeth has
been built by a consortium of British engineering companies known as the Aircraft Carrier Alliance. (upbeat music) The big difference with this carrier is not so much her technology, but the way she'll be manned. An American carrier of a similar
size needs 3,000 sailors. The Queen Elizabeth
will need less than 700. (upbeat music) Called lean manning, this
is a revolutionary concept in the world of warships. - This is the ship control center. It's highly automated. The way we describe this
is this controls everything from power to poo. So all the ship's machinery, from propulsion, ventilation,
electrical distribution, steering, is all controlled from here. In a normal cruising state,
the machinery for the ship will be operated by just six guys. - [Cameraman] Six? Is that it? - [Narrator] Lean manning is
not just about efficiency, it's also about saving money
for a tight defense budget. - One of the innovations
we've built to keep the manpower costs down is the highly mechanized
weapon handling system. A system very similar
to an Amazon warehouse. Most of that ammunition
is stored in magazines that are right down in
the bowels of the ship, and traditionally, that
would be man-handled with trolleys from those
magazines to the flight deck. On this ship, the ships
crew could press a button, select a weapon, and is
automatically transported up from the deep magazine on lifts, so the whole operation is about
30 or 40 guys can do that, where an American carrier,
to do the same operation is about 10 times as many people. - [Narrator] For the sailors
yet to move on board, the ship is very much a work in progress. Navigating around it
remains a bit of a mystery. - [Crew] Can we get through
to five uniform this way? - [Cameraman] Seem to
know your way around now. - Yeah, pretty much. I'm getting there. It's a big ship to learn. (magical music) And it's also a bit like Hogwarts, because as things get built,
and as work's done on board, the routes you can take keep changing, so it's almost like the staircases
keep moving all the time. (magical music) - Wait. I'm lost. (magical music) - It's blocked off. See, I told you, it's like Harry Potter, it's like Hogwarts,
can't go that way today. Go around this way.
(magical music) - [Narrator] F-35 Lightning
fighters are the warplane that will eventually launch off the Queen Elizabeth's ski jump. (intense music) And at a top secret
location 3,000 miles away, British pilots are testing
the F-35 on an exact replica of the supercarrier's flight deck. - This ski jump is
absolutely representative of our ski jump on Queen Elizabeth, and this is where we've
done all our testing for the last three years. - [Narrator] At the end of 2018, Nath Gray will be the
first pilot to land an F-35 on HMS Queen Elizabeth. - Is it exciting? I don't think there could be
any better job in the world, for when we actually put the first wheel, when the rubber hits the deck, and we have that capability
of carrier strikers delivered back the United
Kingdom that we've missed for the last eight years. That's gonna be a huge moment. (plane whizzing) - [Narrator] The F-35 can fly at well over 1,000 miles per hour. Its stealth characteristics make it all but invisible in combat. (plane whizzing) Currently one F-35B costs
around $122 million, and can be armed with short
and medium range missiles, as well as precision guided bombs. And the maritime variant
being developed for the Navy is capable of hovering. This will be flown by Royal Navy and Royal Air Force pilots
off the Queen Elizabeth. (plane whizzing)
(intense music) It is then HMS Queen Elizabeth
will finally be battle ready, with, arguably, the most
advanced jet fighter ever made. - [Cameraman] Long way from
Commander Dunning in 1917. - It's unbelievable, yeah. To look back at Dunning, 100 years ago, to look at the ships he was landing on with the aircraft he was in,
compared to our aircraft now, and the Queen Elizabeth carrier, I mean, you could never have imagined we could make those leaps, and where we'll be again, in
100 years time, who knows? Let's go. - [Narrator] The Queen
Elizabeth has been designed around the F-35, the hope
being that ship and aircraft will combine to dominate the
combat zone as never before. The real strength of the F-35
is its computer intelligence, giving it the ability
to absorb and process vast amounts of information instantly. This will enable it to
second-guess enemy intentions, and give it overall command
of the battle space. It really is the stuff of Star Wars. (intense music) - Whether it's before the
mission, so mission planning, whether it's during the mission, or whether it's post-mission, the carrier's equipped to
efficiently soak the aircraft of all the information that it has, and then relay that straight away to the next battle space. Here's the conversion. Tower give me the clearance, we're clear for the ski jump. We're cleared, here's the power. Brake release. (plane whizzing) (soft music)
