History Of The Submarine - Full Documentary

[Music] so [Music] the time is dawn the place somewhere in the vast atlantic waste the water's part as a squat grey shape appears its bulk a swelling silhouette in the growing light of breaking day this is a nuclear-powered and armed submarine a product of man's seeming infinite capacity to create instruments of destruction this submarine has no other purpose than to destroy it is the perfect weapon silently and secretly cruising the dark depths of the ocean capable of a lightning and terrifying response to any act of aggression should the unthinkable a nuclear strike occur the submarine submerges to continue its lone near endless vigil stealthy menacing the ultimate killer [Music] for centuries in man's relentless quest to understand and conquer his environment there was no more tantalizing goal than the mastery of the sub-sea world but the path would be long strewn with the fanciful the fantastic the futile and the fatal as early pioneers sought the secret of motion in the deep myriad propulsion systems were applied in a plethora of capricious craft hand power treadmills clockwork compressed air and the most dangerous of all steam but only with the advancing technology of the industrial revolution with the vague submersible become the true submarine and the elusive dream become reality if the story of the evolving submarine was one of trial and error adaption and plagiarism in countries spread across the globe the term father of the submarine must still go to one man the tenacious irish american john holland in 1900 a skeptical united states navy finally took delivery of a small subsea craft known simply as the holland unbeknown to them their purchase the result of 25 years of meticulous research disappointment and rejection was the first unqualified success in submarine history the modern submarine was born its secret the successful harnessing of a twin propulsion system which within a decade would be with few exceptions the standard power source of every submarine in the world on the surface the holland and its successors were powered by the revolutionary internal combustion engine fueled by petrol paraffin kerosene and later diesel submerged the problem of drive without an oxygen fed power unit was solved by the rechargeable battery-powered electric motor with a suitable power source found advance followed on advance from its earliest inception despite protests to the country there was never doubt as to the role of the submarine it was to be a weapon of war this had been reinforced by the invention in the 1870s of the first locomotive torpedo self-propelled by compressed air with its complex steerage mechanisms this remarkable weapon brainchild of english engineer robert whitehead would be the prototype of every torpedo to follow the submarine had been given its teeth yet in the years that followed the importance of the submarine as a facet of naval warfare gained scant recognition in world naval circles still imbued with the glories of grand fleets by some the submarine as a weapon was regarded as repugnant unfair underhand and by one british admiral as damned unenglish one voice however was raised in lone prophecy admiral sir john jackie fisher the architect of the modern royal navy in the dreadnought age caustically observed it is truly astounding to me how the very best amongst us absolutely fail to realize the vast impending revolution in naval warfare that the submarine will accomplish in 1914 the storm clouds of war broke engulfing nation upon nation in a titanic dynastic struggle the infant submarines received a baptism of fire theory was put to the test as for four grueling years they plied their furtive trade in the waters surrounding an embattled europe the german submarine war plan was simple all-out attack on the vast allied merchant fleets to starve britain of the means to wage war throughout the war class after class of submarine was churned out from the german naval dockyards in an unbroken chain each one in some way better than the last larger with longer range greater submerged endurance bigger and more accurate torpedoes stronger deck armament the germans had another vital asset a great tradition in optics all submarines had some kind of periscope but the german submarine's optical equipment was superlative the eyes without which submerged attack was pointless one of the new submarines the u151 the great deutschland of 1916 would twice run the blockade to the then neutral united states and in so doing mark another advance and the evolution of germany's classic lone sea raider the world was being introduced to a formidable new weapon in sea warfare called simply the u-boat with no great german mercantile fleet to tackle the allied strategy was essentially different based on integrated support of ground forces and the harassing of the german high seas fleet at the core of their submarine force was the exceptional royal navy e-type which with her smaller forebear the c-class gave sterling service in the atlantic and north sea and in aggressive raiding in the baltic the black sea and the treacherous turkish sea of marmora without the submarine assault on the turkish supply lines on sea and shore the tragedy that was gallipoli would have been an even greater slaughter the usa's late entry to the war at sea was a two-fold boom her submarines reinforced the hard-pressed allied squadrons while her vast wealth ensured that allied naval strength would finally break the u-boat menace their armed convoys ending the easy plundering of the crowded sea lanes the tools of anti-submarine warfare were still crude primitive sonar or azdek the hydrophone and the early depth charge but an indelible format had been set for the future armed convoy versus submarine in every submarine force technological advance was reflected in the sophistication of tactics and enduring born of increasing expertise and faith in the submarines but with the ending of hostilities in 1918 the cost would have to be counted the german navy alone lost 178 boats with 51 officers and 4 4500 ratings yet the toll on the submarine forces when weighed against the appalling carnage of the bitter wasteful land war put beyond doubt the immense strategic value of the submarine ton for ton the most destructive weapon of the war [Music] in the aftermath of the great war the response to this reality was two-faced in public the diplomats would profess abhorrence of the devil's device in private every naval power would busily engage in augmenting their submarine strength except for the moment germany her great fleet scuttled her deadly u-boat surrendered or scrapped the forced surrender of the german submarine force allowed the victors close comparison of their own vessels with the sea raiders who had wreaked such havoc these included the custom-built uc-5 a mine layer which had sewn its lethal fields with a stealth that only the submarine could achieve but this was only one role of the submarine which would be assessed in the post-mortem of war the interwar years for submarine development were ones of consolidation steady progress but with no dramatic breakthrough though the path was paved with eccentricity the submarine as battle cruiser as aircraft carrier and as fleet consort with the final experiments in steam in 1936 the coronation of george vi was marked with a grand review by the royal navy still the greatest maritime power in the world shadowing the ranks of the fleet warships was another force a force integral to britain's future naval strength the silent service on show by a nation who had tried to outlaw the submarine were the large ocean-going china boats the guardians of empire with them and the mine layers ran their smaller more reliable sisters the s-class submarines built with a prophetic eye to a restless europe the submarine's presence in the panoply of fleet strength was clear proof that the submarine was accepted as it had been by every other naval power in total 26 countries of the world possessed a submarine force of varied size with myriad designs for a multitude of strategies only time would prove the value of their choice and judgment should they be embroiled in conflict as the shadows of war once more lengthened over europe germany had rearmed this time it was not the imperial eagle which flew above the fatherland but the nazi swastika as adolf hitler led the german people steadily towards his war of vengeance and conquest in hitler's grand design a resurrected u-boat force was to be accorded a place not given by any other country to their submarine arm the reasons were not obscure a new generation of german submarines rolled from the slipways in recognition that the old enemy britain must be faced that the british navy was too strong to be confronted and therefore that britain must be starved into submission the weapon for the task as in the last war was to be the submarine as commander of the force hitler made the inspired choice of captain karl dernitz an undistinguished veteran of the last submarine war dernitz was nonetheless a brilliant organizer who would change the whole face of submarine warfare in september 1939 the waiting ended and the u-boats already at sea struck the first blows in a sea war that would last for five bitter years but the war had come too soon the young force was in no way ready for its crucial task a resigned naval chief grand admiral eric raider could only say to his commanders gentlemen we have no choice total engagement die with dignity yet allowed to choose the time and place of conflict the submarines launched a remarkable offensive with only 57 of the 300 boats donets had begged for but quality made up for quantity the creative drive of the german designers and the pride and resentment of the ex-submariners who had almost won a war had ensured that the u-boat production line had never ceased that the link with the tiny kerosene driven u1 of 30 years before remained unseven the brunt of the hostilities would be borne by the now legendary type 7 class das bought a legend not forged by her modest technical pretensions but by the actions of her crews yet the sevens evolved from their forebears in the now familiar format were ideal for the task with a low conning tower only 5.2 meters above the water line they were hard to see from over a mile even in daylight at night and head-on they were practically invisible they could dive in under half a minute could reach 100 meters without strain and 200 if hard pressed depth and endurance at high speed were twice as good as any of their contemporaries but still under the eight knot barrier which after 20 years of submarine development remained unbroken by any combat submarine in response to slow submerged speed and as yet unmolested by attack from armed escorts the u-boats took to surface attack of slow quarry while the erratic behavior of the torpedo had been studied and this remained the submarine's main armament the deck gun was now a feature of every submarine this recognized that the submarine was still a submersible an underwater torpedo boat with limited submerged endurance before coming up for air and to charge the electrics this would be their achilles heel surface defense was essential in the early days of the savage battle of the atlantic the u-boat crews enjoyed their cynically dubbed happy times first the easy pickings of lone merchantmen scattered across the sea lanes caught up by the surprise speed and scale of the onslaught then among the ill-protected convoys the allies faced a fearsome logistic problem how to run an armed convoy system when the escorts did not exist all were spread through the far-flung sea stations of the empire even given an escort anti-submarine capability was still poor the pattern would change but for the moment the u-boat crews enjoyed a rich harvest returning to port to the adulation of a doting public with their panels as with other forces proclaiming the kills including the audacious coup by ace gunter preen of u-47 who had sunk the battleship royal oak in the royal naval haven of scarpa flow [Music] the onset of the war for british submariners was neither glamorous nor dramatic the royal navy had the equal of the germans in numbers but of these 57 few were in home waters as the assault continued and the u-boats even laid mines insolently and undetected in the thames estuary itself it would take time to recall the skilled submarine veterans from the eastern stations meanwhile to swell the home force the old h l classes were exhumed from sedate training duties and put on a war footing yet their presence in the force was not on britain like the usa would be content to use and improve her pre-war designs for the royal navy this policy cautious though it may have sounded was based on practicality in the face of costly rearming yet as if in mirror of germany's conveyor belt system this building on the past produced the excellent t-class patrol submarine cheap but stable efficient and powerfully armed the future would show its worth from the outset british and german tactics were diametrically opposed while the u-boats pursued the royal navy stood on station in thin grey lines of blockade they waited for their prey of fast lone warships ships which had the power to strike back and did it became confused as to who was hunter and who was hunted but the german invasion of norway gave the royal navy submarine armed the targets in number they craved as they took the war to the enemy between the 9th of april and may day 1940 the s t submarines now under the overall command of ex-submarine ace max horton destroyed 22 ships including a cruiser and crippled the german pocket battleship lutzow the british submarines had proved the equal of dernitz raiders the key to dernic's continuing success was not the lone guerrilla submarine of world war one but rather the dreaded wolf pack whose potency it would take the allies three years to master the tactics were simple and deadly the key to the whole process was operations controlled in occupied fronts where the u-boat command staff orchestrated the wolf pack attacks as if they too shared the crowded sea swept bridges of the boats as they course through the atlantic games a single convoy sighting by a lone u-boat would begin a radio dialogue between sea and shore which would send submarines to converge on the shadowing vessel then when darkness fell the pack would surface and strike at the unsuspecting quarry deploying as the situation demanded even brazenly within the convoy itself where the escorts dare not bring their guns to bear with the u-boats presenting such a low profile against the dark of the sky the hapless huddled convoy knew of an attack only when the first torpedo struck the effects were devastating but the belligerence worked both ways if the torpedo was the submarine's bite it was also its betrayer bringing the growing number of escorts homing to the scene with their electronic paraphernalia and their increasing skill in detection of what was and what was not a submarine in the depths of the ocean the torpedoes loosed there was no time to celebrate victory or dwell on failure as in a single moment the hunter became the hunting and the real trial for a submarine began the battle to survive to outwit the enemy above in a tense deadly game of hide-and-seek even if the submarine dived once the area had been pinpointed efficient sonar could detect the submerged marauder a pattern of depth charges laid in a spread could if not achieve a kill force the enemy onto the surface to the waiting guns of the hunter or into the deep the silent nightmare world which tested every sinew of a submariner's stoic resolve being depth charged was an experience which no submarine crew wished to repeat the psychological strain was immense as they waited for the shock waves of an exploding charge not knowing if this was the killing blow as the boat shook the hull leaked and equipment was strewn the length of the submarine but submariners learnt that they could survive an attack that the depth charge was lethal only within 30 feet that by going deep they could avoid the dangers of an explosion under the hull that the destroyer carried a limited number of charges and the attack must peter out but there was one other great fear chlorine gas the deadly combination of water and leaked acid from batteries disturbed in the attack as the u-boats were harried and hounded to the all-pervading stench of rotting vegetables refuse unwashed bodies bilge and bile was added an almost tangible odor of fear yet the submarines never flinched from their task of sinking ships but to maintain the offensive against the mounting toll of allied destruction the submarines needed to be in peak fighting trim and constantly at sea the logistics of supply were a nightmare as the u-boat sweeps grew wider and the journey to safe haven on the shores of occupied france grew longer the submarines depended more and more on the milch cows converted nine u-boats which could refuel re-arm and even repair a submarine at sea this bought valuable time at sea but was a powerless exercise even in calm weather safe from the probing eyes of the enemy from the sea and now the sky submarines in every theater of the war faced a new menace which would become the greatest killer of all the anti-submarine aircraft for submariners there was no more feared enemy than the sky-born predator appearing from nowhere fast and lethal an aircraft's very presence hostile or not made surface running exhausting and dispiriting with constant disruption of vital surface chores why submariners without shame dive from anything with wings in december 1941 the ruthless assault on the united states naval fleet in pearl harbor press edged the opening of the other great arena of submarine warfare in world war ii the pacific ocean the hard-pressed german u-boat force gained an ally japan and some respite as u.s naval focus swung from the atlantic the reception by the germans of the i-130 a typical large ocean-going japanese submarine of world war ii marked a flourishing anton cordial between the submarine forces of japan and the third reich at the end of their historic journey the visitors were recorded a full state welcome a masterpiece of propaganda but amidst the feasting and festivities the diplomats were at work donetsk promised his new ally u-boats to swell the indian ocean force but sadly for japan few of the larger ocean-going type 9 boats survived the perilous 6 000 mile journey through the south atlantic to this important cockpit of the war where east met west the indian ocean was virtually the only place where the japanese submarines would be allowed to employ their greatest assets the submarine's freedom of movement and surprise the hallmarks of the ultimate gorilla in the first months of operations alone the squadron sank 20 allied merchantmen yet the force remained a cinderella as attention was drawn to dramatic events in the pacific throughout the early war the efficient japanese industrial machine poured out class after class of large attack submarines the tools to police the ever expanding japanese maritime empire but the inflexibility of admiral yamamoto and his naval high command cruelly dissipated the courageous efforts of skilled and dedicated submarine crews imposing rigid adherence to orders and the stultifying strategy which tethered the submarines to the surface fleet too late the great sea battle of midway from the 12th to the 15th of november 1942 showed the folly of this unbending stance as the submarines were left wallowing in the wake of the charging warships from this moment on the japanese submarine force slipped slowly towards ultimate defeat in stark contrast america the sleeping giant was fully aroused as her navy department finally grasped the true nature of the pacific war the atlantic situation was reversed japan was the island nation dependent on the sea for supply america was the aggressor exploiting every resource to starve the enemy into submission the whole pacific was a war zone and every craft upon it a potential target by late 1942 the united states had a massive submarine building program underway with obsolete first world war and interwar boats giving way to fast new submarines built to stand long tests of endurance in the vast pacific the 73 submarines of the gatto class with their partners the vallejo and the tench class were the new killer fish which would bear the brunt of hostilities in the sea war america's long-range attack submarines the famous pig boats of world war ii built to cruise 10 000 miles without refueling the 300 foot boats allied kill power to endurance 10 torpedo tubes three four or five inch guns and machine guns gave the sting while the all-electric drive of four diesel generators allowed 20 knots surfaced and cut down the loss of running time due to an engine failure diesel electric propulsion did not drain the batteries like the more direct drive boats saving hours of recharging and allowing more time to drill the crews who would take the war to the enemy submariners were a breed apart and had to be to have the mental and physical toughness to endure month after month in the twilight world of a submarine but also have the skill reflexes and nerve for the moment of attack or crisis training was a byword in a submarine force they were taught the theory they were taught the practice they were taught to survive or at least to believe that they could survive could escape from an underwater grave only 50 percent of the all-volunteer us force survived a grueling weeding out as training grew more intense with drill after drill exercise upon exercise and dive dive dive to shed the precious seconds that could mean the difference between life and death as one submarine commander put it there is no margin of error in a submarine you are either alive or dead the submarines that left the american bases were superb fighting machines manned by fit expert and fiercely loyal crews confident that everything had been done to maximize their success in battle the maxim was endurance more space meant more supplies and torpedoes conditioning meant less damp faults in the electrics as well as comfort water purification and daily vitamins meant a healthier more effective crew on the long hauls at sea finally complex electronics knight radar and a fine naval intelligence system gave the crews the added tools to carry out the task two find them chase them sink them but the submarine was only as good as its weapons for an incredible 21 months the us submarines put up with the chronic vagaries of the ill-tested mark 14 torpedo in one submarine faced with the dream scene of three carriers in periscope view of ten torpedoes loosed only one found a target the tragic consequence of torpedo failure was a severe blow to morale and the wasted efforts of courageous crews falsely blamed for poor results but within these limitations and by adopting the salvo technique to raise the chances of a hit the u.s submarine force pursued their task with vigor developing and refining all the tactics hard learnt by the forces in the european sea war by 1944 japan's empire was in eclipse as the zenith of the us assault in the pacific was reached japan's merchant fleet and with it her economy was being shattered the submarines would claim sixty percent of the final tone nor was the imperial navy free from the rapacious killer fish 1944 alone saw the sinking of one battleship seven aircraft carriers two heavy cruisers seven light cruisers 30 destroyers and seven submarines with numerous other vessels sunk or damaged beyond repair no target was too small for the hungry u.s submarines as the toll of destruction mounted these losses could not be sustained by april 1945 only four japanese attack submarines were operational any others had long since been sunk or become mere mules blockade runners for the harris flagging imperial army the ailing submarine fleet was forced into desperate last ditch measures employing the kamikaze style kaitens but even these one-man suicide torpedoes served only as a gruesome tribute to fanatical japanese courage and sacrifice with these last futile gestures four years of tragic misuse of a skilled committed and brave force were ended admiral charles lockwood's asiatic force with the other submarine forces which served in the war lost 52 of 336 submarines but they arguably sunk the japanese empire while the battle in the pacific was played out across the world another sea contest equally crucial had run its course a battle of attrition to decide the outcome of the north african campaign a race of supply which the allies had won in the calm clear waters of the mediterranean sea mussolini's maritime pretensions were dashed his large modern navy without commitment or good leadership humbled only the italian submarine force would endow the lackluster conduct of el duce's grand fleet with some dignity but in the mediterranean they too would meet their demise vivid exploits from the atlantic to japan and early success in their homeland sea turned sour as one by one the large ocean-going submarines were reduced to meager transports in the turning tide of war but final allied success was dearly bought and no force paid more dearly than the submarines [Music] in december 1940 a vanguard of the royal navy's u-class training submarines of 1938 armed only as an afterthought entered the inland sea and proved the most potency raiders of the conflict these were the nucleus of the tough aggressive flotilla sailing from shell torn malta who would bear the brunt of the submarine war in the course of the savage struggle 21 of the u-class alone would fail to return to port yet the burden was shared as into the arena the royal navy filtered its larger submarines with highly trained young crews or battled hardened veterans the attacks on the vital axis convoys and the italian navy continued with mounting ferocity during the critical years from january 1941 to february 1943 more than 600 torpedoes were fired and 100 axis vessels sunk by 1943 the assault on italian shipping had become a slaughter but the price was reinforced as destroyers mines and the unknown fate of those submarines listed as missing added to the forlorn tow lucky boats like the s-class safari returned to britain to acclaim their jolly rogers like the german u-boat penance proclaiming the kills some boats like the tally ho would go on to triumph in the pacific but other submarines would never leave the med the t-class thunderbolt was won having sunk during sea trials in june 1939 and been recovered one of the commanders said of the thunderbolt a submarine can only sink once he was wrong the distinguished career of this one submarine was an expression of the skill and resilience of the allied force her fate a symbol of the depredations of the vicious submarine war yet for the first time the submarine had been a crucial component of a major strategic victory the laurels were shared but without the submarines there would have been no laurels at all by mid-1943 in the long bitter battle of the atlantic the germans were losing 15 u-boats a month to the allied hunter-killer groups all attempts to redress the balance failed even with the snorkel breathing device akkack anti-sonar and radar decoys and coatings and high-tech sensors of their own the u-boats remained vulnerable no longer was even darkness a friend as the tables of the early war were turned and the allies waited for the raiders to surface in the night dernitz told hitler the enemy has new detecting gear which makes submarine warfare impossible for the first time hitler doughnuts and munitions minister albert speer all realized the war was being lost that what germany desperately needed as top priority was a new breed of submarine these came tantalizingly near new submarines capable of outpacing the hunter killers such submarines existed but would never reach the fleet the fast streamlined 21 and 23 u-boats with virtually the same class of submarines that had confidently begun the war the kriegsmarine finally lost the technology race beaten by time on the last day of the atlantic war admiral donitz successor to hitler gave a poignant farewell to perhaps the most dedicated and most tragic force of world war ii of a total of 39 000 men 28 000 had been killed in action and five thousand captured an awesome eighty five percent but despite losses in every force world war ii gave the submarines an unchallengeable place in naval strategy as an elite ranked with seabourn air forces as the most potent weapon in the armory of any sea power as the survivors came home from the war the victors and the vanquished what was perhaps unrecognized unsung or unknown was the sheer versatility and magnitude of the submarine's contribution the mine laying the covert visits to hostile shores sea rescue shore raiding reconnaissance and supply and countless special missions some with vessels built for one task alone of these last the [ __ ] submarines the human torpedoes and the chariots were the most unlauted eccentric inventive secretive and dangerous when blessed with success like the italian two-man pig boat raids on the royal navy's bases in alexandria and gibraltar the results were stunning in proportion to the size of the assailant the latin motto of the british x-6 [ __ ] part of the force which broke the unsinkable tirpitz could stand for all these monstrous midgets pisces minimus maximurum at patens loosely translated the smallest fish with the biggest appetite [Music] all these were part of the extraordinary underwater war of world war ii yet within a matter of years the submarines of every nation of every shape size and sophistication would be rendered obsolete by the 1950s the advent of nuclear fission had at last furnished the submarine with the power source which had been sought for over a century the now true submarine with almost limitless range submerged became the quintessence of stealth free to cruise the deep undetected the new nuclear submarines took their undisputed place in the covert military fencing which for four decades would be the indelible stamp of the tension that was the cold war [Music] with all the latent problems of undersea mobility solved the irresistible march of technology harnessed for political and military ends ensured the refinement of the nuclear on fun terrible into the absolute instrument of destruction it has become [Music] as the delicate political maneuvering of the cold war continued the nuclear submarines of both superpowers were constantly at sea patrolling in the depths of the oceans and under the polar ice cap their very presence posed a serious problem in each armed camp how to combat the threat how to detect the undetectable [Music] the advanced technology which had created the weapon was harnessed to furnish the antidote with advanced sensor systems anti-submarine missile aircraft and anti-missile missiles in the war games of the post-war decades the soviet union and the u.s with her nato partners tested the submarines with their powerful ballistic and cruise weapon systems against their own submarine killers though simulated and in uncontested waters these computerized gains of cat and mouse were a disturbing echo of very real contests in the great submarine wars a newcomer to the world of anti-submarine warfare the helicopter was one answer to the invisible menace created by the submarine's almost limitless submerged endurance by sinking sensitive sonic probes into the deep the helicopter could detect a submarine fulfilling the role of the hydrophone azdik and radar of a fast vanishing past but in 1982 the past met the present in the south atlantic as the actions of one royal navy submarine reinforced the potency of the submarine in a real war the battle for the falklands [Music] given permission to attack her majesty's nuclear-powered submarine conqueror fired a patent of elderly market torpedoes at the old argentinian cruiser general belgrano two struck the belgrano listed to port and sank with a loss of 368 lives from that moment on the argentine navy kept their larger surface ships safe in port this one act of war swung the balance at sea to the royal navy [Music] but what was ominous was not the act itself but that conqueror almost certainly carried far more powerful armament yet even with this her weapon system was not within a breath of the awesome armament of any one of the world's ballistic submarines prowling the seas that same day at the present time submarines exist capable of destroying not cruisers but continents the cold war is over but this threat remains will it ever become a reality [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Documentary Base

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Keywords: Documentary, Documentaries. History, War, Submarines, Submarine, under the sea, full documentary, documentaries, full length documentaries, History Of The Submarine, History, Weapons, Ships, Boats, Boat, War Machine, wwii, ww2, world war 2, military, navy, battle, sub, underwater, technology, Torpedo

Id: TADqQk1lpy8

Length: 54min 51sec (3291 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 02 2019