Submarines: From Raider to Wolfpack | Documentary | Ep. 01

had first despised later much admired submarines have polarized opinion ever since their creation Nazi propaganda hailed them as Wonder Weapons and they continue to bask in a myth of invincibility submarines have gone from being what we regard as ineffectual toys to being these immensely powerful beasts that are incredibly complex and now carry enough power potentially to destroy the whole planet submarines are extremely sophisticated machines brimming with technology and weaponry the complexity of their construction is as impressive as their power to destroy Innovation and captivation danger and destruction the two faces of submarines [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] the moment the submarine came to the world's attention as a weapon was marked by a drama that took place in 1915. the Lusitania was the largest ocean line of its time on the 1st of May the British luxury liner set sail from New York the first world war had already been raging for nine months when the high-speed steamship with almost 2 000 people on board made its way towards Liverpool hardly a single passenger could ever have imagined the catastrophe that lay ahead a few of them had spotted an unusual advertisement in the newspaper a warning signed by the Imperial German Embassy in the USA she was warned via newspaper adverts that there was a chance she could be attacked by submarines and sunk and everybody that went on board would if they read the newspapers know about that and that was a risk but I guess because liners are fast and also pretty big they didn't think that a mere submarine could take the Lusitania from the start of construction the British government earmarked the Lusitania as a potential auxiliary Cruiser meaning facilities were provided for the installation of weapons and the like from the outset she was therefore placed on the corresponding lists under the auspices of the German Geist the Germans declared a war zone around England in February 1915 and declared that All Ships or British ships not the neutral ones would be sunk without warning that was so to speak a counter blockage to the blockade imposed by the British it was the start of sinking ships without warning and it was quite clear that this included large passenger ships because these passenger ships could also be used for military purposes on the 7th of May 1915 the German submarine u-20 was patrolling Waters north of the British Isles the attack on the passenger ship was launched just after 2PM 1198 people were killed the German Commander Valdez Vega was responsible the commanding officer ordered a single torpedo to be fired it was very unfortunate that it struck the Lusitania at such a vulnerable point the Lusitania sank as a result of a relatively primitive torpedo head a major shipping disaster 1200 people dead including about 120 Americans the Civilized world was shocked the incident would culminate in the USA joining the war against Germany [Music] what didn't help the German cause was the celebration of it in Germany and also even medals being struck celebrating the sinking and so what happened then was that the British side the Allied side could then pick up on that and point to Germany as being somehow different and being some kind of Beastly power that was killing babies and women and children in the sea and in reality the sinking did serve the Allied calls in the war the Lusitania brought the issue of submarine warfare onto the Diplomatic stage onto the international diplomatic stage Beyond just the British and the Germans making it an American issue as well the fear of being ambushed by a submarine is no less today in the service of national navies they Cruise inside the world's oceans better camouflage than ever before in terms of size diving depth propulsion and armaments the submarines of international navies vary considerably but there is one thing they all have in common they operate deep under the ocean's cover [Music] thank you these days modern submarines are multi-functional high-performance machines that cost billions and can reach depths of up to 600 meters they can be home to an entire arsenal of weapons the story of submarines began however a long time ago first experiments with underwater vessels took place as early as the mid-19th century submarines come out of their depths and that's what makes them special they come out of hiding at the same time people have extremely limited knowledge of how a submarine actually works from the technical to the operational it's a mystery and Mysteries always interest people the early submarines were really quite primitive when it came to what you might call life support they when they close their hatches they would have air inside and that was all you had to breathe the evolution of submarines mirrors technological progress designs range from Individual diving suits to one-man submersibles to larger constructions the most primitive submarines were powered by hand cranks and other mechanical devices their potential for military use was spotted early on the first deployment of a submersible in Wartime was in the American Civil War in 1864. CSS Hunley was the first submersible to sink an enemy ship the engineer Horace Lawson Hanley financed and coordinated its construction for the Confederate Navy to break the union blockade he died on a test dive with nine men hand cranking ducted propellers the Hanley set off to war in February 1864. although its torpedo succeeded in Sinking The Enemy ship it took the crew with it man's desire to go underwater is the same as a climber who simply climbs a mountain because it's there there was a third dimension that man wanted to explore man's desire to dive is rooted in the nature of human curiosity I think it's comparable to man's desire to fly people have always sought to expand their natural limits since the beginning of time underwater vessels cemented people's faith in technical progress like the Nautilus in Jewel Van's novels to generations of readers the floating research station in 20 000 Leagues Under the Sea was synonymous with submarines the character of Captain Nemo inspired Scholars and scientists alike to push back the boundaries of the possible [Music] was somebody who laid out a vision for what submarines could be and that actually included undersea exploration because in that novel he does go and explore the wonders of the deep that is true he synthesized that whole Evolution that was underway at the time and then showed where it could go on the eve of the 20th century most of the world's navies were either developing or deploying submarines as a weapon of warfare this would not have been possible without the technological Leaps and Bounds made during the Industrial Revolution factories were able to mass produce arms and ammunition steam electric and diesel-powered engines were tried and tested and soon replaced Mechanical Devices modern technology changed the face of warfare something that became particularly evident in the first World War [Music] at the turn of the century underwater vessels with a modern steel construction came into Vogue making them ideal for military use at the same time the torpedo was invented the only real weapons suited to a submarine submarine Mania broke out in France the first vessels were built as early as 1888 and put into Naval service initially battery-powered they later ran on Steam by 1904 the French navy was the proud owner of 10 combat-ready submarines several models were built in the wake of the fashoda incident between Britain and France and the colonial Race For Africa the Americans also began to experiment with submarines at an early stage in 1888 the U.S Navy announced a competition for submarine designs won by irish-born John Philip Holland he went on to do pioneering work in developing submersibles for the military the Navy used them primarily for training purposes and to gather greater underwater experience a submarine was built in Britain and delivered to the ottoman Navy even then submarines didn't have any real military value they were simply too few of them at the turn of the century and a lack of operational experience rendered navies cautious [Music] the prime movers in terms of practical classes of submarines were the Germans and the British but the French navy was a debt at creating a reasonably effective submarines as well and I think that the main problem was in people's perception of what submarines were and who were these people in submarines they didn't seem to be very Savory people and so they were they were thinking that what they should do is perhaps try and ignore the submarine until they were forced into actually having some the German Kaiser Wilhelm II was particularly enthusiastic about large prestigious ships such as the luxury steamer SS Bismarck whose launch he honored in Hamburg in June 1914. [Music] William II was an emperor who was extremely enthusiastic about the Navy to him the Navy was the instrument which could help Germany achieve world-renowned submarines only interested him marginally in this respect he focused on Capital ships battleships until then Germany had never been a major seafaring Nation this was to change under Wilhelm II his ambitious plan to upgrade the fleet in a gigantic program to become the second largest Fleet in the world after the British and there was an arms race in the early 20th century primarily between Britain and Germany but obviously involving other nations and the Germans initially looked at early submarines and said these things are never ever be any use and we should we're better off building battleships because that's who we want to beat the British with their battleships the Kaiser and his Admirals continue to pump money into building powerful battleships and armored vessels investing billions to generate income for his ambitious Naval plans the Kai's introduced attacks on sparkling wine and champagne in 1902 money which flowed directly into the construction of the Kaiser Wilhelm canal and the Imperial Fleet prestigious ships with sizable Crews were meant to show the potential enemy Great Britain that Germany was its match on water as on land the first German submarine however was only commissioned by the head of the Imperial Naval office Grand Admiral Alfred Von tirpitz in 1904. the floating vessel with the name U1 was a technical Innovation it was able to dive to a depth of 30 meters and remain underwater for 12 hours it's worth pointing out that the first submarines were not really submarines they were submersibles that traveled on the surface at a speed of about 15 knots that's almost 30 kilometers an hour and they only dive when there was an alarm for example if there was some threat coming from a ship or an aircraft submarines were Superfluous to military planning because they were basically poorly regarded Warfare was always something chivalrous submarines were anything but that explains why this modern weapon was initially viewed with such indifference the U1 was built at the guermania shipyard a long-standing dockyard in Keel which had already built four submarines for the Imperial Russian Navy the threat of confrontation with Japan in February 1904 prompted the Russians to place orders throughout Europe to expand their Fleet today the world's most modern submarines are launched in keel they have little in common with early designs although the huge pressure Hull still protects the crew and equipment from the enormous water pressure depth the dimensions are entirely different today about 90 kilometers of cable 40 kilometers of pipes and around 6 000 sensors are crammed into the 60 meter long pressure Hull in terms of diving depth equipment Armament and size modern submarines couldn't be more different to their early predecessors modern technology has paved the way it can take up to six years to build a conventional submarine today including a testing period the submarines being built in Keel today are not amongst the largest they are conventionally powered submarines which unlike the large nuclear submarines are not powered by a nuclear reactor these German vessels have the advantage of being smaller quieter and extremely difficult to detect like the type 212 Alpha in terms of the signatures how stealthily a submarine can move the type 212 Alpha is extremely difficult to detect near the old submarines can do the same thing that is dive and resurface pick up signals communicate effectively but the level of noise differs um for a submarine to dive and resurface it has to have what are called ballast tanks these are compartments that are flooded with water to increase the weight and help the vessel to sink filling the cells with high pressure air is called blowing causing the boat to resurface [Music] when sailing on the surface conventional submarines generate electricity for the electric motor via a diesel generator that requires air when submerged the submarine relies on propulsion independent of air for example through Modern fuel cell technology it generates electrical energy from oxygen and hydrogen which is then stored in batteries and supplies the engine the development of fuel cell technology began in Keel as early as the 1980s in 2005 the shipyard used the Innovative technology for the first time on a submarine of the German Navy the propulsion system which relies on the generation of energy from oxygen and hydrogen and is not dependent on outside air is considered groundbreaking compared to the decades before where primary efforts were invested in underwater endurance that is how long the submarine can stay underwater the new fuel cell technology actually resulted in a revolution it increased underwater endurance from a few days to several weeks enabling a completely different outlook on potential naval missions worldwide contrary to the experience of the first world war today submarines are highly complex machines and true technological Marvels they can only be operated by specialists you can operate a submarine like the ones we built today with two men but when it comes down to it a submarine is not designed to sail in Peaceful Waters but to operate in Conflict missions otherwise you could operate every part of the board technology by hand straight away the company has developed a virtual training program for its clients in the digital submarine each step could be practiced for every individual operational detail on board close both India 8-9 Roger close valve India 89 before they even go to Sea Crews can become acquainted with the complex technology wealth India 89 is closed Raja [Music] this level of Technology was unimaginable at the outbreak of the first world war in August 1914 when Imperial Germany began to mobilize its soldiers millions of men went to war not just on land to cut off the import of raw materials for the German war effort the British imposed a naval blockade with the aim of starving the enemy for fear of the superior British Fleet not a single ship of the German Navy left the safety of its harbor at the outbreak of the war the naval superpower Great Britain boasted the largest Fleet with 76 submarines the key point is that although the major Naval Powers all had submarines in 1914 if only just a handful they were technically very unreliable the naval Focus remained on large battleships not so Naval experts thought at the time you have to have a submarine because the others have won too but what can you do with them that wasn't at all clear the outbreak of war in August 1914. in comparison the German Navy only had 28 submarines at the time but they were soon put to use manned by a crew made up entirely of volunteers who were willing to test the waters with this little-known vessel the commanders were relatively young men of around 20 30 years of age the rest of the crew wasn't older they were all youngsters we did attract a certain kind of adventurous risk-taking heretical sort of person somebody that would take a risk and be very daring and didn't care about convention and wouldn't be over awed by the thought of battleships bearing down on them at high speed operating these machines is tough and dangerous it's both a seafaring and a military challenge moreover at the time of the first world war life on board was incredibly uncomfortable a crew of 24 was squeezed into the space between diesel engine and torpedoes in the early days of submarines there was no heating the air was thick with oil from the diesel engine's exhaust fumes which circulated on board went underwater it wasn't possible to take a shower because of the limited water supply 24 men had to share one toilet so toilet time was limited used to work on a submarine in the German Navy initially as a young officer of the watch in the early 1980s later as a commander on u27 and U14 boats during the Cold War today the Hamburg native is president of the association of German submarine officers at the time of the first world war and for a long time afterwards submarine crews were all male women were denied any access even within the Navy itself submarine crews had a special status the battleship Admirals looked down upon some Mariners and thought they were disgusting creatures and and to be honest they were pretty disgusting because in in their tiny submarines they worked in an environment with the Fowler and quite frequently they were they were sick on on themselves and all over the submarine and a lot of them did not even have um toilets so they were pretty unsavory and Pretty Pretty stinking reconnaissance vessels soon turned into Predators mainly hunting British Merchant and cargo ships submarines became the key to Breaking the British blockade on the 22nd of September 1914 submarine Commander Otto vedigan pulled off a surprise coup vading and his boat the smu-9 sank three British armored Cruisers enforcing the blockade off the Dutch Coast a total of 1459 British Sailors drowned or perished in the Shipwreck Britain found itself in a State of Shock and horror foreign [Music] I think the effectiveness of the submarine something that came crashing home in the Royal Navy and in British Society so that horrified the British public that suddenly out of nowhere there could be a torpedo wipe away hundreds of lives in this incident sparked off a submarine Euphoria in Germany and created a myth that lasted the whole of the first world war it was a bug in the Public's ear everyone thought that the Germans had found a wonder weapon to defeat England the German Navy with its prestigious high seas fleet was lying idle in Port at the time people came up with the saying the Fatherland is dozing the fleet isn't cruising and then suddenly a submarine comes along and shows what can actually be done the personality of vettingen is key to this German submariners were hailed by the public as Heroes the image of the U-Boat Commander as a Silent Hunter to the rounds these were people it was easy to project heroic Deeds onto these days you would say they were ideal for a PR campaign they were the embodiment of success you could count how many ships they sank what the gross register tonnage of damage they did was and thus easily gorged their military fleets and that element of competition of measuring yourself against the enemy almost in a sporting way that really suited the submarine commanders who were all young unmarried charismatic and smart the kind of boy groups of today the glorification of Heroes had little to do with the reality and dangers faced by the crews on their mission today young submariners have to face a reality that couldn't be more different even during their training at the naval base in eckenfurter the first submarine Squadron trains its new generation for a good two years now the training center on the Baltic Sea has been home to a state-of-the-art submarine Simulator the simulator can duplicate all movements and positions of a Submarine underwater everyone who has the ambition of working on a Navy submarine has to pass through this simulator at some point possibilities the submarine crew consists of 29 men and women and everyone on board is essential we can't afford to train people after they've gone to Sea there's no leeway for redundancies or spare capacity in the replica Command Center the future Specialists learn about sonar detection the submarine has no windows of course it wouldn't make much sense as it's pretty dark down in the sea but a submarine has highly developed sensors which listen to sounds in the water and pick up sounds from the surface locating acoustic signals is one of the most important tasks of a submarine and just as important the officer on watch today women can finally do this job even though they are still outnumbered another one as officer of the watch you're in charge of the submarine nautically and operationally in lieu of the commander as he can't do his job around the clock I'm in charge of the watch I make decisions about our course and other navigational issues I'm the point where all the information comes together operationally after a year of training on land submarine students have to prove their skills in practice of course emergencies are also rehearsed thank you when it was Pursuit this is my when something goes wrong it's usually a matter of life or death or can quickly become that imagine a fire the fire burns the oxygen in the air which means that in an area that's locked a fire is much more dangerous than in an area where I can open a window or a door or a bulkhead or where I have a ventilation systems the trainees have to apply everything they've learned during a two-week training and examination voyage and they have to function as a team [Music] part of the program Periscope drills trainees perform their first tactical Maneuvers with the observational telescope [Music] the watch officer is the only crew member who can see outside only his or her observations and calculations matter [Music] many a trainee reaches their limits in practice practicing in the simulator ultimately has little to do with operating on a real submarine when the submarines were launched in the first world war there was no thought of such professional training from 1914 onwards the war raged as relentlessly at Sea as it did on the European mainland on the 31st of May 1916 the high seas fleets of the Imperial Navy and the Royal Navy clashed at skagarak it was the opening move in one of the greatest naval battles in history and a trial of strength between the two most powerful navies of the time losses were high on both sides but the battle did Littles had changed the course of the war or end the naval book Aid imposed by the British the Battle of Jutland was the greatest ever confrontation of two fleets that had taken place at that time although it didn't bring about the turning point in the war at Sea in its aftermath that Kaiser found himself being put under pressure by terpits to resume unrestricted submarine warfare which had temporarily been reigned in after the sinking of the Lusitania the Battle of Jutland resulted in a strategic shift in Naval Warfare to stages underwater German U-boats in particular were often considered barbaric for ambushing and sinking British Freighters and killing their Crews submarine warfare has several phases at times it's carried out according to Price law and others according to international law the submarine stops a ship and checks it the crew is safe and then it's sunk that's always been the nature of Naval Warfare German strategists recognized the capability of submarines to launch an ambush attack as their greatest potential s joined in on this heated debate saying it was essential to hit Britain with everything they had and bring down the perfiduous Albion Isles until all their weaponry and restrictions were gone Germany declared unrestricted submarine warfare three times without the promise of warning it also temporarily with through the Declaration twice more than three thousand British Merchant ships and fishing boats were sunk the German U-Boat came to symbolize this surreptitious form of Naval Warfare striking without warning out of hidden depths German submarines were perceived as Insidious and unsoldially and then these German U-Boat commanders just started playing Battleship the Germans had a simple goal to sink as much shipping tonnage as possible and thereby cut off the supply chain of raw materials to enemy Britain in the process nearly 15 000 British Sailors lost their lives the Royal Navy's submarine set about hunting German U-boats while supporting battleships in the blockade in the Baltic and patrolling the Mediterranean yeah in British and Allied propaganda the German U-Boat came to symbolize treachery cruelty and inhumanity in Naval Warfare publicizing attacks on innocent civilians and passenger ships like the Lusitania the sinking of the Lusitania ultimately forced the hand of American President Woodrow Wilson to reconsider his stance on the war and America's active participation Germany's renewed proclamation of unrestricted submarine warfare two years later was the final push for America to join the war in April 1917. the USA's Superior resources shifted the balance of power in Europe in favor of the alliance between France and England at Sea the German U-boats became Prime targets and started to suffer increasing losses guns and depth charges were used to eliminate the treacherous submarines those who suffered most from the unrestricted submarine warfare were not least the crews of the submarines themselves they often spent weeks living in these poorly equipped narrow metal tubes their lives were constantly in danger nor were they in a position to decide the war even with the greatest of efforts thank you I'm recently your ownership the key difference between World War One submariners compared to submariners today is that crews in the first world war had to endure enormous psychological pressure there was only a slim chance of coming home unscathed we are about 5 000 crew members were killed in action in German U-boats in the first world war 184 of more than 300 submarines owned by the German Navy were lost despite a handful of Victories the supposed wonder weapon failed to play the decisive role in the naval war against Britain following capitulation a few German U-boats and their Crews ended up as British prisoners of war the Victoria's Powers were particularly interested in the German submarine's highly efficient propulsion systems the first world war came to an end on the 11th of November 1918. here in Paris as in many cities people celebrated the end of the war large sways of German Weaponry remained in the hands of the victors including a German submarine the Treaty of Versailles brought the first world war to an end both on paper and under international law the peace agreement imposed strict conditions on Germany's Navy limiting the number of battleships to just six and prohibiting the Navy from building or even owning submarines a heated international debate arose about whether to hold on to the controversial notion of submarines as a weapon of warfare [Music] foreign the Germans well they were banned completely from having submarines from operating them and from building them on German soil so they were kind of out of the picture but the British did try to get them banned and failed so I would say to sum it up the submarines were viewed as a terrible weapon one that should not really be in existence but in the end if you were a smaller Navy that wanted to reach some kind of parity with the British Fleet and somehow equalize your your war power then you would say actually we're going to keep submarines and that's what happened so submarines remained in the picture they became the weapon of the underdog the little man's bludgeon a weapon calling for relatively few means but with a considerable effect these small Nations Germany in particular then continue to develop submarine tactics ultimately ensuring their role as an effective weapon in the second world war top Naval commanders from All Nations involved in the war recognized the advantages of submarines over large and expensive battleships submarine construction continued especially in France Britain and the US not in large numbers but with new and improved models [Music] British submarines built between the wars were like American ones designed largely for the scenario of a potential Pacific War they were larger and more comfortable than the later German World War II submarines France also continued construction and exported models to Greece Latvia Yugoslavia and Poland [Music] when Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933 the German Navy didn't have to start from scratch in reactivating its submarine Weaponry despite the constraints imposed by the Treaty of Versailles those in charge had continued to work in secret the fuhrer however had little interest in submarines he was a soldier in the first world war his Naval acherton said that Hitler was scared of the sea he got Cesar quickly it was not his thing he had practically no understanding of Naval matters [Music] U-boats remained a popular propaganda tool in 1930s Germany despite the fact that they'd had no lasting impact on the outcome of the first world war and that many submariners had never returned home [Music] foreign [Music] 1933 the German submarine film Morgan horde was released in cinemas portraying patriotic young men and the heroic deaths of two submarine officers who die for their country [Music] the film was followed by several jingoistic submarine sequels [Music] the depiction of submarine warfare was very positive at the time because throughout the 1920s there was a discourse which celebrated their military achievements it was essential to maintain the positive image of the German military and submarines were a part of that everybody glorified them a little bit as if they were the heroes of the Great War which somehow Germany had actually won the Submariner generally has a less spectacular view of the whole thing but since there are only a few of them it's easy to pertain the myth which persists healthy of course submariners themselves are loathed to undermine it also on the contrary they fuel it through their close ties and that certainness German shipyards like this one in Keel saw the resumption of Submarine construction at the end of 1933 initially in secret and openly from 1935. construction was increased due to submarine's relative low costs in the face of their maximum Effectiveness in Sinking Ships Class 7 submarines were a natural development from their predecessors in the first world war they were state of the art in terms of their diving depth attack strength and propulsion power especially the famous type 7c submarine foreign [Music] the type 7c was the most important submarine in the Second World War they operated primarily on the water's surface and only dived in rare cases you can see that in the shape of the hull as is the case with the most famous German submarine which you can see today in labor on dry land the bow of the submarine is shaped like a classic ship's bow like a knife blade that just cuts through the waves on the water is the first boat of this type was launched in April 1940 it measured just under 67 meters from bow to stern Naval historian Axel nissla is an expert on type 7 submarines he knows the ins and outs of the second world War's most famous U-Boat like no other 21 months were needed to build a type 7c from scratch so to maximize output more than a dozen shipyards from emden to dansish worked simultaneously [Applause] this is the diesel engine room two identical diesel engines with a maximum of 1400 horsepower propelled the boat when it was afloat these diesel engines powered the boats to a maximum speed of up to 17 knots and that's a little over 30 kilometers an hour generally the boat wasn't particularly fast but the engines were very economical the prime goal was to save fuel maximum speed was only used for tactical purposes for example when pursuing an enemy or in an evasion maneuver otherwise it kept at a steady six to seven knots that's pretty much the speed of a slow bicycle the narrowboat was home to a crew of up to 52 men most of the interior which was about four and a half meters wide was crammed with equipment and torpedoes a spherical bulkhead is a special bulkhead because it separates the central area from the front part of the boat a type 7 sea boat is divided into three watertight compartments each compartment is separated from the other by a pressure proof bulkhead pressure proof means that this bulkhead can withstand a diving depth of at least 100 meters without being damaged basically if one of these pressure proof compartments leaks due to water intake and this water intake cannot be controlled in any way then the boat is so heavy that it will sink if that happens then the boat command was advised to bring the boat to the surface immediately no matter what it took without delay put simply it meant blowing with everything you have forcing water out of the ballast tanks and with a bit of luck allowing the boat to resurface there were 10 Torpedoes stored in this space for each in the tubes four below the corridor plates and two above the carriage plates between the bunks here at the rear is the so-called double-acting electric motors which power the propulsion in front of that is the actual engine also inside which is also driven either by compressed air or by electricity then at the very front is the most important part for the torpedo the explosive charge which is packed in here at the front we're talking about a highly explosive charge of 280 kilograms Munitions against the superior Allied Fleet which Germany brought into play after invading Poland on the 1st of September 1939 the start of the second World War not hurt enough Bay the training ship Holstein fired at onshore Targets Hitler's Navy was unprepared for war foreign the German Navy was extremely weak and the u-vote was the best way of turning this around the Germans were a land power a strong Army but were very weak at Sea the deployment of U-boats made them a c power to be reckoned with or at least perceived as a threat an incident just two days into the war proved how dangerous German submarines were the passenger ship athenia had departed from Europe during peacetime sailing from Glasgow to Montreal with more than a thousand passengers on board that ship should never have been sunk even under German rules because they were trying to abide by certain protocols that did not allow attacks on Liners in particular areas on the 3rd of September 1939 the German u-30 boat was patrolling off the North Coast of Ireland when at some point in the afternoon the commander Fritz Julius limp aged only 26 spotted the British flagged athenia before assessing the situation fully the commander classified the ship as a troop ship and fired three Torpedoes at 7 40 in the evening one hit its Target 118 people drowned in the freezing cold Irish sea no Germans came to the rescue the commander saw the attack as a legitimate Act of War because he'd mistakenly identified the athenia as a troop ship when he became aware of his Mistake by listening to the radio Transmissions broadcast from the sinking ship he did not do what he should have done under international law if a civilian ship is sunk its international law to help rescue the survivors but the German Commander stole away violating international law for the second time this matter of international law which dictates when it's legitimate for a submarine to sink a ship what is acceptable in breaking a blockade and what is not legitimate all that was effectively redundant in the second world war both sunk each other with surprisingly little hesitancy the German Reich increased its submarine building program soon making the underwater killing machines the decisive element of the ward sea the second world war saw the acceleration of submarine warfare like never before and even more ruthlessly the packs of gray Sea Wolves initially celebrated major military successes only when the Allies made breakthroughs in decoding enemy radio traffic to the Thai turn in their favor each passing decade has seen submarines becoming larger and more powerful but at the time of the second world war their supposed greatest triumphs and the development of gigantic nuclear submarines with nuclear weapons were still to come foreign

Channel: hazards and catastrophes

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Keywords: submarines, submarines documentary, submarines history, submarines world war 1, submarines world war 2, u boat, u boat documentary, u boat history, u boat world war 1, u boat world war 2, submarines germany, submarines usa, submarines britain, submarines technology, submarines lusitania, torpedos, navy documentary, navy history, military documentary, history documentary, ships documentary, ships history, world of warships, warships documentary, das boot, red october

Id: C3gI-pt-7K0

Length: 52min 0sec (3120 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 11 2022