Battle 360: WWII Begins in the Pacific (S1, E1) | Full Episode | History

uss enterprise aka the big e a fighting city of steel she is the most revered and  decorated ship of world war ii on this 360 degree battlefield where threats loom  on the seas in the skies and in the ocean deaths   the enterprise's enemies could be anywhere and everywhere now follow this sea-bound band of brothers  through four years of hell from pearl harbor   to the doorstep of japan you know you did  this to us watch this here we come now there's nowhere to run when the war is all  around you battle 360 uss enterprise call to duty the central pacific february 1 1942 aircraft carrier uss enterprise with 2 800  men aboard steam through hostile waters   near the marshall islands war on the high  seas has been raging for almost two months   tensions on board run high 1 40 pm two miles off the carrier's starboard bow five twin-engine japanese bombers break out of the  clouds and swoop toward enterprise in a low glide   their mitsubishi g4ms allied code name teddy enterprise's anti-aircraft guns greet  the invaders with a cloud of lead but even with the carrier guns banging  away the japanese betties are still   determined to deliver their 132 pound  high explosives onto enterprises deck just one hit could put this  floating airfield out of commission the japanese planes open their bombay  doors and let the ordinance fly all the farms miss but one is  close enough to rock the enterprise   shrapnel rains down on the carrier's  deck mortally wounding one of her men   with their bomb base empty  the enemy planes bug out   except the one in the rear although american  gunfire has left her critically wounded   the last bomber does a 180 degree left  turn and buzzes back toward the carrier   he knew he'd lost and he was going down  so he's going to take some of us with him   enterprise captain george murray orders  instant evasive action full right rudder as the ship attempts to swing to  the right out from under the bomber   the enemy plane dips down to just a  couple hundred feet above the water   over guns that could were firing at it but  it was coming on and kept coming and coming   aviation machinist mate bruno peter guido sees the  impending disaster and scrambles into action this   sailor actually ran across the flight deck jumped  into a parked airplane got on one of the machine   guns from the plane and he took the guns up like  this and he started shooting at him like this   with the shift moving sideways at the last moment  a suicidal enemy bomber charts a flight plan for   maximum destruction he banked sharply to the  right on a collision course with the enterprise as the bomber crosses over the deck its right  wing shears off the tail section of guido's plane   but the intrepid machinist mate  is unhurt and still firing as   the enemy plane skids off the carrier deck and the gunner took the plane around shot  him and the other time so it hit the ocean it is clear to his shipmates that  guy does heroics have saved the day his quick action spared the  carrier a devastating blow the commanding officer of the aircraft  carrier group rear admiral william f halsey   has watched the extraordinary  shootout from the enterprise bridge ten minutes after that was over palsy called  down and said who was that guy in the rear   seat of that airplane fired at the attacking  plane and he said send them up to the bridge from guido's description he stood at a  tension saluted the admiral says what   is your name and they said bruno what rate are  you bruno aviation machinist made third class   i said bruno you are now aviation  machine is made first class for enterprises sailors it's just another  day on the job one of many close calls   they and the most revered aircraft carrier in  history will face over the coming four years now these guys on the enterprise had  a 360 degree view of the entire war   we've got surface threat we've got an air threat   we've got sub-surface thread so it's all around  you above and below you was their battle space   a ship earns one battle star for  every major battleship fights   by the end of the war in the pacific the  big e will earn 20 of them three more   than any other ship and seven more than  any other carrier and the nickname lucky   a lot of the people call the enterprise a  lucky e but i don't think she was so lucky as   she was good the story of the enterprise began  six years earlier launched in 1936 uss enterprise   alphanumeric designation cv6 is a new breed  aircraft carrier yorktown class the super carrier   of its era it's a sleek hold medium weight vessel  108 feet wide with a flight deck running across   almost the full 809 feet of her length her deck  is washington state timber her whole pennsylvania   steel displacing 25 000 tons when fully loaded the  enterprise has a range of 12 000 miles with a top   speed of 32 and a half knots she's armed with 24  50 caliber machine guns four quad 1.1 inch cannons   and eight 5-inch guns that can take out air or  surface targets from a maximum distance of 18   200 yards the big e weighs more than 16 000 tons  less than the older carriers in the fleet but can   carry the same number of warplanes into battle  she's more fuel efficient more agile more deadly the enterprise had a spirit about it   indomitability no other ship was going to compare  with it the enterprise can carry up to 96 aircraft   it is an armed airport you have all of those  workshops and areas underneath the flight deck   called the hanger deck where they service the  planes and where the planes are usually stowed   there are three elevators and that's how those  planes are brought up to the flight deck or taken   below the carrier is the floating base for one  squadron of tbd devastator torpedo bombers the   slowest aircraft which are typically held back  until enemy surface ships have been spotted   one squadron of grumman f4f wildcat fighter  planes patrols near the ship guarding it from   air attack and two squadrons of svd dauntless  scout bombers are routinely deployed to search   200 square mile sectors in all directions for an  enemy presence if the enemy is located the sbd   with a two-man crew at a max speed of 250 miles  per hour can win an air-to-air shootout with the   two 50-caliber machine guns in its nose and dual  rear-mounted 30-caliber free-floating machine guns   it also has the capability of hitting  enemy ships with 1200 pounds of bombs with its cadre of warplanes enterprise  is well equipped for battle with japan   but none of the big e's pilots  have ever fired a shot in anger how will they respond when the empire  of the sun delivers its first attack war with japan is imminent   and while uss enterprise is the super carrier  of her era she won't be fighting alone at sea the carrier is like the  quarterback of a football team   she's defended by cruisers and destroyers  on the surface of the water around her   by scout planes bombers and fighter planes launch  from her deck and patrolling the skies overhead and sometimes even by submarines  beneath the waves out in front the escort ships that sail closest to the carrier  are the destroyers a destroyer is a relatively   small warship typically with a displacement  of about 2200 tons a length of some 400 feet   and a width of about 40 feet like enterprise a  destroyer's largest guns are her dual purpose   five inchers capable of firing five-inch  projectiles at either surface or air targets when taking on airplanes these  guns don't go for a direct hit   they send up a barrage of shells known as flack  which are fused to explode at a specific altitude   hopefully taking out any aircraft  that are approaching the fleet   the explosions send out blasts of travel would  leave behind those distinctive puffs of black   smoke the destroyers were the last line of defense  before the japanese could get to the carriers larger gunships called cruisers are typically more  distant from the carrier to serve as her first   line of defense their primary mission  is to protect that carrier at all costs   everything else is secondary it was a team effort u.s submarines also occasionally  lend the carrier a hand   they're the eyes and the ears of that whole  fleet they can virtually be undetected   they're great for reconnaissance and they can sink  ships before they even know that they're there but enterprise is the heartbeat of the task force   it takes thousands of men to keep this floating  city on the moon clerks yeoman cooks men in the   anti-aircraft divisions radar men radio men  signal men different types of technicians   the ship typically has a marine detachment  and their job is security for the ship   and they generally have battle stations there  are a lot of people on an aircraft carrier and   all of them are doing different jobs the  average age aboard ship is 19 years old   and these young men have come from all across  the country to serve on this massive melting pot the decks echo with the accents  of the deep south and the midwest   ranch hands from texas bunking with  street tufts from hell's kitchen   guys from pennsylvania alabama  california and everywhere in between   for many of these american boys life aboard  this mega ship takes some getting used to i grew up in round rock and there's 1200  people in round rock when i left there   went aboard the enterprise and there's about 2 800  on the enterprise it's like a city you didn't know   all about the enterprise was the biggest ship i'd  ever seen in my life in fact when i walked up the   gangplank for the first time i was imagining  golly there must be a swimming pool on here in 1941 the crew was still a largely  unproven group of sailors and marines how they would respond in the  heat of battle was anybody's guess being afraid carries a lot of baggage with it i  was never so afraid that i wasn't able to carry   out all my responsibilities a hundred percent  because i like everybody else aboard that ship   was determined we were not ever  going to let our shipmates down   i think that one thing there kept us on the  job regardless of what the circumstances were toughness starts at the top an enterprise's task force is run by the toughest  admiral in the pacific william f bull halsey halsey's fearless and  disciplined and most importantly he's a scrapper bull halsey i was a man  of great personal will a firm commander   a man that wanted to be in the middle  of the action in the thick of the combat he was a fighting animal i have seen him many  times on the bridge when we were under a dive   bombing attacks shaking his fist and cussing  those japanese dive bombers and he was out there   he'd have a helmet on but that was about all   his men immediately respect him and over the next  several months they will come to love him too in the fall of 1941 halsey and the other  american commanders have a wary eye on japan   the japanese have made several  threatening moves in recent years   invading china and allying themselves with germany  and italy to form the original axis of evil the empire of the sun is anxious  to expand its territories across   asia the u.s and her allies are determined  to stop them attempts to negotiate with   japan have floundered and american intelligence  has intercepted ominous messages hinting at war by november 27 1941 talks with  japan have ceased the following   day admiral halsey approves the issuance  of a special order battle order number one bill norberg a yeoman or clerk aboard the  enterprise recalls some of the inspiring language   from the order the things that i recall most  clearly are the enterprise is now operating under   wartime conditions steady nerves and stout hearts  are needed steady nerves and stout hearts indeed december 6 1941. enterprise is 300 miles from pearl harbor  the big e is due back at pearl this evening   lucky for enterprise and her task  force mother nature has other ideas   we ran into a terrific storm and we fairly well weathered that in the pretty  good size ship that we had but our little tin   can destroyers were bouncing about like bobbles  on the water they used up so much of their fuel   that we had to slow down and stop and refuel  them this twist of fortune will actually keep   enterprise under task force from the far worse  fate awaiting the ships docked at pearl harbor despite the storm enterprise still  manages to launch 18 scout bomber   planes on a routine reconnaissance  mission on the morning of december 7th but this morning will be anything  but routine 200 miles to the east 353 japanese warplanes are  headed for a date with infamy enterprise crewman sergeant frank graves has  been temporarily assigned to a post on dry land   he's at machine gun school near  the entrance of pearl harbor   history is about to happen  and he's got a front row seat i heard some strange engine sounds i looked up  and right above the algebra trees probably not   more than 75 feet in here were large  japanese three-seater torpedo bombers   with a torpedo hanging on single file one  behind the other and i started yelling jabs jabs finally i guess one guy decided to have some fun  and he opened fire on us hit the guy next to me although enterprise herself is  not in the thick of the battle   pearl harbor provides a preview of the  fearsome firepower the ship will soon be facing in addition to their zero fighter planes   the japanese air arsenal includes the b5 n2  torpedo bomber nickname kate with a top speed of   235 miles per hour and a crew of three the plane  doubles as a high altitude bomber but the aircraft   that will prove to be the most deadly sinking more  allied warships than any other in the pacific war   is the d3a1 dive bomber nicknamed bow with  a two-man crew and a max speed of 240 miles   per hour the valve is capable of carrying  one 550-pound bomb and two 130-pound bombs we can see the dive bombers working over pearl  harbor later on some high-level bombers came in in   pearl harbor and i suspect that's the one to  get to arizona more than 100 miles out to sea enterprise receives word that  something is happening in the harbor something came over the radio pearl  harbor under attack this is no drill when admiral halsey gets the news he has just  finished breakfast and poured his second cup   of coffee halsey the men around him and the  enterprise herself are suddenly electrified we were pretty much aghast it just seemed surreal  that we could actually be at war right that minute   after we'd been at peace just a minute or so  before i think many of us grew up that morning   beyond the horizon to the east the men of  enterprises scouting squadron six approach pearl   harbor and begin to notice that something is very  wrong we can see the smoke building up from the   island and i said to the pilot what the hell is  the army doing holding maneuvers on a sunday floor the true state of affairs is  about to become very clear the squadron's radios crackled with  a frantic call from one of the pilots   here was clarence dickinson now he  had this squeaky little voice that   you couldn't miss him snake shoot that  sun on our tail he's shooting real bullets as dickinson roars into the fight at pearl multiple enemy zero fighters jump in his rear seat  gunner opens fire and downs one of the attackers but finally dickinson's plane succumbs  to the barrage of enemy wallets he didn't die his gunner was  killed but he parachuted and   he made it back and got to fly  another plane just right away dickinson may have survived but  the first tangle with the enemy   has been devastating six of the 18 planes  enterprise launched that morning are lost   and for 11 of her airmen the first  battle of the war will also be their last uss enterprise finally steams into its home port  on the evening of december 8th roughly 32 hours   after the attack the ships were on fire there was  smoke everywhere there was oil all over the water   i don't recall seeing any bodies floating  around thank goodness but it was a nasty mess   it looked bad it smelled bad you could  almost feel gloom and doom in the air they had fire boats and tugs  in trying to put out the fires   the surface of pearl harbor was about  maybe three four inches deep with fuel oil surveying the destruction admiral  halsey swears that when he's done   the japanese language will only be spoken in hell halsey orders every able body on the ship officer  and enlisted alike to help refuel and reprovision   enterprise as quickly as possible it's a job that  normally takes a full day of round-the-clock work   on this day the men get it done in seven hours for  the uss enterprise to roll into pearl harbor see   all that carnage for them to do what they need to  do within seven hours turn right back around and   get back out to sea most people would think that  would be pretty amazing i just think that it just   shows the american spirit that you know what okay  you did this to us watch this here we come now the sneak attack on pearl has  crippled the american pacific fleet four cruisers five destroyers and four auxiliary  ships have been damaged or destroyed none of the   fleet's eight battleships have been spared four  are sunk and the rest have taken heavy damage   but by striking when none of the seven  u.s aircraft carriers were in port   the japanese made a critical mistake and they  know it starting now enterprise and her fellow   carriers are at the top of the enemy hit list  of course the japanese wanted them carriers   because first of all they're taking out one of  our ships then they're taking out airplanes and   they're taking out personnel all at the same time  so they're like killing three birds in one stone   they believe if they could have knocked out  all of our carriers that they could win this   war hands down we knew that we were an awful  big target enterprise sails out of pearl on   tuesday morning into a strange new world where  the threat of death looms just over the horizon   i suspect every one of us probably would have  had in our mind why did this have to happen   but now that it has what  are we going to do about it when we went back to sea on  tuesday morning for all we knew   we were right into the jaws of the imperial  battle fleet so we were a bunch of scared sailors understandably tensions are high aboard  enterprise and within her task force   fear of enemy submarines is  pervasive all eyes are open for them someone spotted something they thought was a  periscope and of course the destroyer escorts   opened fire on it dropped a few depth charges around   this thing kept bobbing up periodically and  they finally got it close enough see what it was someone had lost a mop overboard somewhere  during the line and this thing was the mop handle kept bouncing up toward the surface   and everyone was a little bit amazed about all  the depth charges and ammo was wasted on that mop   but the deep waters near hawaii  do conceal legitimate threats december 10 1941 the big e is on  patrol near the hawaiian islands off to the south of the carrier perry teff a dauntless dive bomber pilot  from enterprises scouting squadron 6   spots enemy submarines at the surface submarines have to come up for air  at least once every 24 hours in   order to run the diesel engines  that recharge their batteries this morning japanese submarine  i-70 is in periteph sites   time for some revenge the american pilot  swoops in and drops a thousand-pound bomb the explosion rocks the japanese submarine  damaging it and preventing it from diving   beneath the surface sometime later fellow  enterprise scout pilot clarence dickinson   the man who parachuted from his damaged plane at  pearl harbor takes another dangerous dive on i-70 being a dive bomber pilot in  world war ii takes nerves of steel dauntless pilots execute this death  defying maneuver at 275 miles per hour   with their canopies open so that they  can bail out quickly if they're hit to ensure the element of surprise they take  their dive at an insanely sharp angle of 70   to 75 degrees 70 degree dive angle on  a world war ii dive bomber it's pretty   dynamic it's like your face is pointing at  the ground if i hold you up by your feet   give you just a little bit of push forward  that's 70 degrees and we don't have to dive   at 70 degree angles today because technology has  allowed us to do much less dynamic dive angles dickinson plunges down towards the  sub and finishes the job payback it's the first enemy ship sunk  by the u.s navy in world war ii and the kill belongs to uss enterprise the uss enterprise to get the first naval kill   had to lift the spirits not only of just  the ship's crew itself but all the american   people to show you know what we're not  done we're not even close to being done   enterprise carries on with its patrol duties in  the waters near hawaii until late january 1942.   try as it might the ship has no luck  locating enemy planes and surface vessels   near its home islands the japanese fleet  has long since retired to distant waters   but even without the enemy in attack  mode life aboard ship remains perilous   every time a plane takes off or lands on  the carrier's deck death is in the air landing on an aircraft carrier  is always a difficult maneuver   eventually with enough experience you get to the  point where you can actually enjoy day landings   night landings are always not enjoyable from the time of the very first carriers the navy  set out to document any aviation mishaps so that   when mistakes are made other pilots on board  and across the entire fleet can learn from them   james barnhill the ship's bugler  is also a skilled photographer   one of his jobs is to film these  death-defying takeoffs and landings i saw so many that would  bounce and go over the side or   came into one side of the flat back  or the other and go into the catwalk if they looked like they were in trouble  then we started the cameras rolling   it it looked like it was a  good landing we didn't bother the pilots know that if they see the cameramen  stand up and start rolling it means they're   probably heading for a rough landing they would  just be sitting up there like vultures waiting   to snap pictures of another crash back in the day  the pilots would call that area the vultures nest   and that name is stuck through today now you only have a space of landing that is  400 feet long you you have six wires out there   and you have to land on one of those wires of  course you don't want to land on number six   i've only landed on modern aircraft carriers  where we have four wires and i can tell you   when you miss the three and are headed to the  fourth get pretty close to the end of the carry   you always know when you caught a four wire now  with the six wires that they had back in world   war ii time frame imagine it was pretty similar  you knew when you caught the late wires but   really in pilot terms we don't care what  wire we catch as long as we catch a wire february 1st 1942 the days of  training and patrolling are over   time to take the fight to the enemy target ochi island central pacific  in the marshall islands chain   objective deny the japanese a base for  possible invasion of the hawaiian islands strategy destroy japanese airstrips fuel storage  tanks ammunition dumps and anti-aircraft batteries enterprise's task force cruiser uss  northampton kicks off the attack her eight-inch guns hurled their 260-pound  projectiles five miles across the sea   to their targets on the island closing to within three and a half miles  northampton can now use her smaller   five-inch guns to assault the shore batteries they were firing shells over  the japanese shore batteries   and instead of hitting the shore batteries  with direct hits the shells were exploding   over the shore batteries and  showering those positions with trap uss northampton is 600 feet long and 66 feet wide  and displaces 9 000 tons she has a top speed of 32   and a half knots with nine eight-inch guns four  five-inch rifles eight 50 caliber machine guns   and six torpedo tubes she is  a force to be reckoned with the island of wojcie is experiencing  that force this morning 100 miles   west of wilche surveillance has revealed a heavy  concentration of enemy vessels at quadruple atoll so while northampton takes care  of wojcie enterprise sends its   sbd bombers to strike the kwajalein anchorage dusty cleese speeds south toward  an outpost on tiny kwajalein island i found a cruiser there so no fighters around   oh boy this is great so i  got up there and i made this dive dive bombing is almost unheard of in  modern warfare precision guided bombs   that can be deadly accurate from 40 000  feet have made this risky maneuver obsolete but if you wanted to be sure of hitting your  target in world war ii you had to get in close   there's a lot of factors that come into dive  bombing speed dive angle altitude of release   wins the loft clearly the longer you  wait to release the bomb the closer   to the target you're going to be and the less all  those factors can influence the bomb's trajectory   so in that respect waiting is better but you  also got to be able to pull out of that dive bomb   and you also want to release the munitions so  that when it explodes you're not caught in the   frag pattern so back then typically released  a bomb between 1 000 and 2 000 feet again the   longer you wait the more accurate it's gonna be  but also the faster you're gonna be pulling out   the lower you're gonna be pulling out so it's kind  of a there's a happy medium in there somewhere   as he dives down toward the japanese cruiser  cleese has just one bomb aboard a 500 pounder   he knew he had one shot one shot  only everything had to be perfect and uh he did it i uh clobbered it   as he pulls out of his dive cleese is feeling  pressure five to six times the force of gravity   but there's no better feeling than  getting right up in the enemy's face   and delivering a knockout blow five miles to the north a fellow enterprise dive   bomber pilot has discovered a cluster  of merchant ships near the carlos pass he scores a well-timed hit on a tanker  scrambling toward the channel's mouth it was trying to go out at sea and he hit it right  on the head and caught it on fire the tanker just   happens to be at the choke point of the channel  and it blocks passage by the remaining ships well here were all these ships inside the lagoon  then the uss enterprise launched nine torpedo   planes after to go get those remaining ships  that were caught inside of the channel frankly no   anti-aircraft gun and here these things couldn't  move well it was like shooting fish in the barrel the torpedo bombers sent by enterprise are  douglas tbd devastators slow antiquated aircraft   that will soon be replaced by more agile planes with a sluggish maximum speed of 207 miles  per hour and a feeble rate of climb of just   720 feet per minute tbds are overly vulnerable  to both enemy fighters and anti-aircraft fire they carry a single 2200 pound mark 13 torpedo the enterprise tbds pass over kwajalein lagoon and  drop their payloads there's not a single explosion at this point in the war american torpedo  technology is hit or miss and it's mostly miss nine out of every ten torpedoes veers off  course or fails to detonate it's a frustrating   reality for the pilots risking their lives of  kwajalein launch their torpedoes not one hit luckily there are american bombers in the area  too and their explosives are working just fine   kwajalein harbor is a smoking burning wreck by  the time admiral halsey calls off the attack some 90 enemy personnel are killed at kwajalein including the area commander the marshall islands raids are a huge success   an enterprise returns to a  hero's welcome at pearl harbor   we're standing out there and  cheering i remember nurses waving   uh towels i remember some of the army  people holding holding their rifles up   and i don't even remember one guy holding a mop  and he was shaking that back and forth they were   so elated that somebody had whacked the enemy good  and proper and of course our sailors were manning   the flight deck by the hundreds they were looking  pretty spiffy up there and as we passed in nevada   those guys hollered on in unison if hip  hooray hip hip hooray and our people   responded just unbelievably exhilarating hip  hip hooray and it sounds kind of soft mark at   a time like this when you look back on it  but at that time it's just exactly what we needed the sailors and airmen of enterprise will soon get  yet another small taste of sweet revenge mid-april   1942 sailors on the deck of uss enterprise  notice that the air is getting chillier they've been operating in the steamy south  seas for weeks and now the brisk weather is   making it very obvious that they're sailing  north but only the admiral seems to know why tension abort enterprise is still high at any  moment the calming sounds of the sea could be   interrupted by the wine of a japanese  zero or a torpedo broadsiding the ship up on the bridge captain's yeoman  bill norberg is working an all-nighter   i was working my shift on the bridge at night and  it was at 12 to 4 o'clock in the morning shift   and i was out on the pork wing of the bridge  and out there it just so happened the general   quarters buzzer is out there and i kind of  nodded off and my head was leaning back and it   hit that buzzer and the thing went off and of  course that means everybody jump out of your sacks   get your clothes on get to your battle stations  around the ship the crew jumps into action   men roll out of bunks and grab  for helmets crews ready their guns but the skies remain quiet soon word  spreads that this is a false alarm   and everyone aboard ship wants to know who  triggered it and i heard somebody say i don't   know who it was but he had a pea coat on and  that was me and i took off and nobody caught me   thank goodness because you know sleeping on duty  isn't the best thing you can do in time of war at roughly 6 a.m on the morning of april 12th   the men of the big e and her task force notice  a completely unexpected sight in the distance i walked out from the kong shack on the walkway  and i looked over there i couldn't believe my eyes   the surprise vessel is friendly  it's their sister carrier uss hornet   but she's carrying mysterious cargo there  was something wrong with hornet's silhouette   what was wrong with it is the flight deck was half  covered with these big strange-looking airplanes   that were not painted navy colors  and they weren't naval aircraft   and they finally figured out they were b-25s  and they had army camouflage painted on him the army b-25s are here to make a bombing run  on the heart of japan target tokyo and other   industrial centers around japan objective take out  factories and munitions plants and demoralize the   enemy by assaulting her homeland strategy attack  with 16 b-25 bombers launched from uss hornet   i don't like to use the word revenge but  sure i mean there there was some revenge   uh that that that they wanted to  get some back you know they were mad   and they weren't to stand for it then and we  don't stand for it now you you reach out and   you hurt us we're coming after you and you know  what during a damn thing you can do about it army air corps lieutenant colonel james  doolittle has agreed to lead the daring mission   and he's chosen the b-25 as the aircraft on  which to trust his life the north american   mitchell b-25b is a twin-engine medium bomber with  a range depending on bomb load of about 1300 miles   it's typically manned by a crew of five and  can deliver up to five thousand pounds of bombs   while other bombers have more range and  power the b-25s modest wingspan of 67 feet   seven inches will allow uss hornet to  fit more bombers on its flight deck   the plan is for the carrier to get doolittle's  bombers within striking distance of japan   they will then launch bomb  tokyo and their other targets   and continue on to land in  friendly remote chinese territory since hornet's normal defensive aircraft must be  stored below deck to make room for the mitchells   enterprise and her task force will go along  to protect the hornet if she is attacked   we were all a thrill but we were scared  to death we said this is a suicide mission in order to ensure that doolittle's bombers have  enough fuel to reach the designated landing area   in china hornet and enterprise need to get the  planes within 400 miles of the japanese mainland but bad luck intervenes we ran across this  little what we thought was a fishing boat   turned out to be a patrol boat we didn't pick  it up on our surface radar it was that small cruiser nashville went out with her six-inch  battery and sank this thing and we thought well   maybe we got away with it but radio pearl harbor  actually intercepted a message reporting warships   so they had to launch and they had launched  right then and there was no turning back the carriers are 650 miles  from the japanese mainland it means doolittle and his men might  not have the fuel to make it out safely   they choose to go anyway at 8 20 a.m on the  cold damp and blustery morning of april 18   1942 the b-25 mitchell bombers prepare for takeoff high wind high seas carrier racing 30  knots pitching and bucking like a bronco   about 25 knots headwind wind on the  flight deck of that carrier is 55 knots the pilots have more to  worry about than the weather   carriers like enterprise and hornet weren't  designed to launch planes this heavy   and this is the first time a b-25 has attempted  to take off from a carrier in combat that aircraft   wasn't designed to be taken off in an aircraft  carrier so they really had to get as much wind   over the deck as possible because wind over the  deck translates to flying speed off the angle   once the bombers are speeding down the flight  deck there's only two places they can end up   with enough speed they'll be in the  sky too slow and they'll be in the sea   taking off in a high wind high standby is always  tricky your number one priority right there is   gonna be making sure that the aircraft is lifting  off the end of the deck when the bow is high making it even more difficult  the bombers have been stripped of   all non-essential items to make room for more  fuel and bombs they're even heavier than usual colonel doolittle himself is the first to  go they got all these aircraft stacked up   on the flight deck so the first guys to  take off have the least amount of runway doolittle's bomber struggles off the  deck but manages to stay airborne   and the second one to go off  almost dipped into the water and if i recall there was one more plane  that almost went in the drink but all   16 of them got on the way four hours after launch the  bombers finally reach their targets despite enemy flag each plane drops 2 000 pounds  of hell into the heart of the japanese homeland they then turn toward the chinese  coast and their designated landing area   but as the last drops of fuel  funnel from the bombers tanks   most of doolittle's air crews have no  choice but to bail out or crash land three crewmen perish in the process  eight are captured by the japanese the physical damage done to  japan has been negligible   but the psychological impact is truly  significant on both sides of the pacific   it was definitely a morale booster not only for  our servicemen but for our whole country at a   time of war when the enemy is getting nailed at  the heart of their homeland it makes you feel   like you know what you tried to stop us ain't  happening we're coming after you they showed   the japanese that they weren't invincible  that we could reach out and we could touch the first six months of the war have been a  trial by fire for the crew of the enterprise in december of 1941 the men of the big e  were sailing the pacific unsure of what   lay beyond the horizon now they are well  on their way to becoming a battle-tested   fighting machine morale on board runs high we didn't look for the war to last very long   we just didn't think that  the japanese were that strong they thought that the war would be over relatively  quick and they couldn't have been more wrong soon the pilots and gunners  from the enterprise task force   will come face to face with the enemy again and the course of the war will change forever  in the massive and deadly battle of midway you

Channel: HISTORY

Views: 1,016,825

Rating: 4.8462491 out of 5

Keywords: history, history channel, history shows, history channel shows, battle 360, history battle 360, battle 360 show, battle 360 full episodes, battle 360 clips, full episodes, battles, war, tom, tom oar, THC, Nowhere to Run, wildfires, wrestles, season 1, Battle 360 season 1 episode 1, Battle 360 s01 e1, Battle 360 s1 e1, Battle 360 se1 e1, Battle 360 season 1, watch Battle 360 full episodes, Battle 360 se01 e1, watch Battle 360 season 1, wWII Begins in the Pacific, battle strategy

Id: FE6GZuUONmM

Length: 56min 8sec (3368 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 11 2021