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Oh, do but think, you stand upon the
rivage, and behold, a city on the

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00:01:22,361 --> 00:01:28,060
inconstant billows dancing, for so appears
this fleet majestical.

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00:01:34,850 --> 00:01:39,072
In August 1914, Britain
went to war with a very small

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00:01:39,073 --> 00:01:42,301
army, and the greatest
navy the world had ever seen.

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00:01:42,900 --> 00:01:47,860
The first duty of the Royal Navy was to
defend the British Isles against dangers

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00:01:47,861 --> 00:01:51,300
defined three and a half centuries earlier
by Sir Walter Raleigh.

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00:01:51,600 --> 00:01:56,694
There are two ways in which
England may be afflicted,

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00:01:56,695 --> 00:02:00,800
one by invasion, the other
by impeachment of our trades.

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00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:16,420
A hundred years after Raleigh,
the Marquis of Halifax wrote, To the

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00:02:16,421 --> 00:02:19,186
question, what shall
we do to be saved in

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00:02:19,187 --> 00:02:22,400
this world, there is no
other answer but this.

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00:02:22,660 --> 00:02:24,340
Look to your moat.

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00:02:24,760 --> 00:02:28,589
The first article of an
Englishman's political

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00:02:28,590 --> 00:02:32,300
creed must be that
he believeth in the sea.

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00:02:36,560 --> 00:02:40,382
Ever since Trafalgar in
1805, Britain's fleet majestical

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00:02:40,383 --> 00:02:43,360
had been the envy and
despair of other powers.

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00:02:44,080 --> 00:02:46,380
Wherever there's water
to float a ship, said

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00:02:46,381 --> 00:02:49,581
Napoleon, we're sure
to find you in the way.

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00:03:06,950 --> 00:03:11,750
In 1900, Germany began to build a fleet,
a battle fleet.

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00:03:12,410 --> 00:03:18,530
Admiral von der Goetz told the Reichstag,
The maritime superiority of Great Britain,

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00:03:18,870 --> 00:03:23,070
overwhelming now, will certainly remain
considerable in the future.

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00:03:23,071 --> 00:03:27,890
But she is compelled to scatter her forces
all over the world.

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00:03:28,370 --> 00:03:33,770
With the increases about to be made in the
German fleet, we will be in a position to

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00:03:33,771 --> 00:03:39,390
measure our strength with ordinary British
naval forces in home waters.

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00:03:40,490 --> 00:03:44,070
The very foundations of Britain's security
were placed in hazard.

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The threat was unmistakable.

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00:03:46,550 --> 00:03:50,270
Sir Edward Grey, the foreign secretary,
expressed its full extent.

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00:03:50,730 --> 00:03:53,574
If the German fleet
ever becomes superior to

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00:03:53,575 --> 00:03:57,351
ours, the German army
can conquer this country.

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00:03:57,610 --> 00:04:00,550
There is no corresponding risk of this
kind to Germany.

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00:04:00,850 --> 00:04:03,745
For however superior
our fleet was, no naval

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00:04:03,746 --> 00:04:07,111
victory would bring
us any nearer to Berlin.

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00:04:07,630 --> 00:04:10,905
There were two courses
open to Britain, to negotiate

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00:04:10,906 --> 00:04:13,830
to limit the German fleet
or to increase her own.

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00:04:14,530 --> 00:04:17,870
In 1908, the Kaiser ruled out negotiation.

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00:04:18,330 --> 00:04:21,631
A good understanding with
the English is not desirable,

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00:04:21,632 --> 00:04:24,070
at the cost of the completion
of the German fleet.

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00:04:24,810 --> 00:04:27,470
Whether the British like it or not is
immaterial.

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00:04:27,950 --> 00:04:30,010
If they want war, they can have it.

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00:04:30,330 --> 00:04:31,710
We are not afraid of it.

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00:04:32,110 --> 00:04:35,185
Britain met the challenge by
stripping her overseas stations

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00:04:35,186 --> 00:04:38,150
and concentrating her
scattered navy in home waters.

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00:04:38,890 --> 00:04:43,950
Sir John Fisher, First Sea Lord,
wrote reassuringly, We will soon have,

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00:04:44,090 --> 00:04:47,914
in home waters, two fleets,
each of which is incomparably

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00:04:47,915 --> 00:04:51,730
superior to the entire German
fleet fully mobilised for war.

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00:04:52,850 --> 00:04:55,830
So, sleep easy in your beds.

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00:04:56,630 --> 00:04:59,990
Battleships and cruisers returned home
from distant oceans.

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00:05:00,230 --> 00:05:03,870
A holiday for the Arab smuggler or the
Malay buccaneer.

49
00:05:04,330 --> 00:05:05,770
Yet this was not enough.

50
00:05:05,771 --> 00:05:09,750
In 1906, Britain had launched HMS
Dreadnought.

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00:05:10,110 --> 00:05:12,550
Faster, bigger, more heavily armed.

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00:05:13,010 --> 00:05:15,970
All existing battleships were rendered
obsolete.

53
00:05:16,450 --> 00:05:21,010
And in theory, all the shipbuilding
nations were now on equal terms.

54
00:05:21,550 --> 00:05:23,670
The naval race began.

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00:06:17,090 --> 00:06:29,071
Bigger ships, heavier armaments,
12-inch guns, 13.5-inch guns, 15-inch guns.

56
00:06:29,150 --> 00:06:32,490
When war began, it was Britain who had won
the race.

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00:06:32,491 --> 00:06:37,610
She had 24 dreadnoughts and battlecruisers
ready to fight, to Germany's 16.

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00:06:38,110 --> 00:06:42,350
She also had the moral advantage of a
century of unchallenged supremacy.

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00:06:43,070 --> 00:06:47,250
One of the officers on board ship where I
served said, one of the first days of the

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00:06:47,251 --> 00:06:51,631
outbreak of war, I'm quite
sure all of us will find our bones

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00:06:51,632 --> 00:06:55,010
lying at the bottom of the
sea within the next ten days.

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00:06:55,011 --> 00:06:59,190
And I have decided to eat nothing until my
death but caviar.

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00:06:59,810 --> 00:07:01,864
Well, he kept that up,
as far as I know, for three

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00:07:01,865 --> 00:07:04,950
days, and then he gave it
up just to avoid bankruptcy.

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00:07:05,650 --> 00:07:08,850
To Britain's naval strength was added that
of France.

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00:07:09,210 --> 00:07:12,930
German policy had made allies of the old
enemies of Trafalgar.

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00:07:16,670 --> 00:07:21,230
Together, the allied fleets ringed the
German and Austrian fortress of Europe.

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00:07:26,570 --> 00:07:30,490
Colonial possessions throughout the world
provided the fleets of Britain and France

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00:07:30,491 --> 00:07:33,790
and Germany with bases for supplies and
repairs.

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00:07:34,530 --> 00:07:37,502
They also formed a
network of radio stations,

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00:07:37,503 --> 00:07:40,350
connecting distant squadrons
with their home command.

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00:07:41,090 --> 00:07:43,830
Above all, they served as coaling
stations.

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00:07:44,270 --> 00:07:46,950
To steam ships, coal was life.

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00:07:47,530 --> 00:07:51,890
A heavier ship ate a tonne of coal for
every mile steamed at high speed.

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00:07:57,900 --> 00:08:00,407
When she refuelled,
up to 2,000 tonnes of

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00:08:00,408 --> 00:08:04,021
coal would have to be
loaded into her bunkers.

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00:08:07,920 --> 00:08:12,600
So, across the world, the naval powers had
built up chains of coaling stations.

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00:08:12,980 --> 00:08:17,120
And the filthy colliers that replenished
them were the sinews of naval glory.

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00:08:41,360 --> 00:08:46,300
Coaling ship was a hated task which might
take from dawn to dusk, or longer.

80
00:08:46,301 --> 00:08:49,420
It was all right while we were breaking
the surface of the coal.

81
00:08:49,960 --> 00:08:54,460
But as you got lower and lower into the
hole, it got terrible.

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00:08:55,140 --> 00:08:58,220
In fact, it was eating coal dust all the
time we were down there.

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00:08:58,500 --> 00:09:01,442
Your nose got blocked up,
your eyes got blocked up,

84
00:09:01,443 --> 00:09:03,881
and we were jolly thankful
when it was finished.

85
00:09:05,820 --> 00:09:08,900
Only one more day, a-coaling.

86
00:09:09,540 --> 00:09:15,080
One more day, oh, rock and roll me over.

87
00:09:15,660 --> 00:09:18,820
Only one more day.

88
00:09:20,280 --> 00:09:23,240
Only one more day, a-working.

89
00:09:44,740 --> 00:09:49,863
In August 1914, Britain
placed entire trust in the Royal

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00:09:49,864 --> 00:09:54,060
Navy, supreme, invincible
repository of imperial might.

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00:09:54,600 --> 00:09:57,720
Sleep quiet in your beds, Admiral Fisher
had said.

92
00:09:57,880 --> 00:10:01,520
We will be incomparably superior to the
entire German fleet.

93
00:10:03,140 --> 00:10:07,040
Yet there were those who were uneasily
conscious of new factors.

94
00:10:07,780 --> 00:10:10,860
A naval revolution had been silently in
progress.

95
00:10:11,780 --> 00:10:12,780
Underwater.

96
00:10:13,260 --> 00:10:15,678
The mine and the
submarine created dangers to

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00:10:15,679 --> 00:10:18,801
which the largest
dreadnoughts were vulnerable.

98
00:10:19,140 --> 00:10:23,160
No one knew how these underwater weapons
would affect the great fleets.

99
00:10:23,680 --> 00:10:28,980
An American admiral had once said,
damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.

100
00:10:30,800 --> 00:10:33,715
And close observers knew
that Britain had lagged

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00:10:33,716 --> 00:10:36,840
behind in developing
the underwater armaments.

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00:10:36,841 --> 00:10:42,120
We had no efficient mine, no properly
fitted minesweepers, no arrangements for

103
00:10:42,121 --> 00:10:45,560
guarding our ships against mines,
no anti-submarine precautions,

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00:10:45,920 --> 00:10:47,500
no safe harbour for our fleet.

105
00:10:47,720 --> 00:10:52,000
The lack of submarine defences for the
British fleet, even in its home base,

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00:10:52,500 --> 00:10:55,260
haunted the Commander-in-Chief,
Admiral Jellicoe.

107
00:10:55,261 --> 00:11:01,160
I was always far more concerned for the
safety of the fleet when it was at anchor

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00:11:01,161 --> 00:11:06,200
in Scarpa Flow in the early days of the
war, than I was when the fleet was at sea.

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00:11:07,960 --> 00:11:12,380
Unsuspected uncertainties hovered around
the Royal Navy as it went to war.

110
00:11:31,560 --> 00:11:35,109
Germany had acquired a
colonial empire in Africa and the

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00:11:35,110 --> 00:11:38,580
Pacific, more than four
times the area of her homeland.

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00:11:38,960 --> 00:11:41,980
And she had developed a huge export trade.

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00:11:41,981 --> 00:11:46,860
In the Far East was the only naval force
outside the North Sea that carried the

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00:11:46,861 --> 00:11:52,981
flag of Imperial Germany, the German-Asiatic
squadron under Admiral Graf von Spee.

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00:11:53,420 --> 00:11:56,740
This alone defended Germany's Pacific
colonies.

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00:11:58,220 --> 00:12:01,100
The Allies planned von Spee's immediate
destruction.

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00:12:01,460 --> 00:12:03,700
Take away his bases,
his radio and coaling

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00:12:03,701 --> 00:12:06,901
stations, and his squadron
would be helpless.

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00:12:10,900 --> 00:12:13,140
The first to be seized was Samoa.

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00:12:15,560 --> 00:12:20,560
Palms and sands and lazy islanders ringed
by the glamorous South Seas.

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00:12:23,560 --> 00:12:27,900
This was where Robert Louis Stevenson of
Treasure Island had died and been buried.

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00:12:28,480 --> 00:12:31,680
That ridiculous island, the Kaiser called
it.

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00:12:35,960 --> 00:12:37,920
There was no fighting in Samoa.

124
00:12:37,921 --> 00:12:40,060
A party of New
Zealanders came ashore to

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00:12:40,061 --> 00:12:42,440
accept the German
surrender with due ceremony.

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00:12:42,940 --> 00:12:46,253
The black, red and white
flag of Germany came slowly

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00:12:46,254 --> 00:12:49,620
down the mast, and the
Union flag flew in its place.

128
00:12:52,660 --> 00:13:00,200
On the same day, the BEF was marching back
from Mons and Le Cato in due exhaustion.

129
00:13:06,050 --> 00:13:10,870
On September the 10th, the remote tropical
war moved to another German island,

130
00:13:11,330 --> 00:13:13,650
New Pomerania, off the coast of New
Guinea.

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00:13:24,560 --> 00:13:28,580
There was a brisk action, ending in an
Australian victory.

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00:13:29,420 --> 00:13:32,940
On September the 15th, the whole of German
New Guinea surrendered.

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00:13:33,760 --> 00:13:38,780
Australia, in her first campaign of
conquest, had added 90,000 square miles to

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00:13:38,781 --> 00:13:42,900
the British Empire, at a cost of six dead
and four wounded.

135
00:13:45,780 --> 00:13:51,620
But Germany's strongest Pacific colony,
and von Spee's main base, was Tsing Tau,

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00:13:51,800 --> 00:13:54,140
on the Kiao-Ciao peninsula of China.

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00:13:55,000 --> 00:13:59,900
Its governor telegraphed to Berlin,
Tsing Tau is impregnable.

138
00:14:00,700 --> 00:14:05,280
It cannot be taken from the sea,
and no one would try from the land.

139
00:14:06,100 --> 00:14:07,900
But it could be besieged.

140
00:14:08,840 --> 00:14:12,780
Japanese, British and Indian troops landed
on September the 2nd.

141
00:14:20,920 --> 00:14:22,660
The Japanese had a problem.

142
00:14:23,320 --> 00:14:26,240
They couldn't tell a German-European from
an English one.

143
00:14:26,700 --> 00:14:29,920
We sent out a mixed patrol, ourselves and
the Japanese.

144
00:14:30,880 --> 00:14:32,660
And they shot one of our men.

145
00:14:32,661 --> 00:14:34,520
They were never really forgiven for that.

146
00:14:35,100 --> 00:14:37,860
Asked why they did it, they said,
oh, we look the same as the Germans.

147
00:14:38,300 --> 00:14:44,221
So they gave us Japanese kimonos,
coming down to our thighs, which had capes.

148
00:14:44,260 --> 00:14:47,520
And then when we all wore kimonos,
we were all sort of chaps together,

149
00:14:47,680 --> 00:14:48,680
no more extents.

150
00:14:49,500 --> 00:14:52,620
The siege of Tsing Tau went on for nine
weeks.

151
00:14:53,260 --> 00:14:56,090
The Japanese brought up
heavy howitzers to smash the

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00:14:56,091 --> 00:14:59,300
forts, as the Germans had
smashed Liège and Namur.

153
00:15:02,120 --> 00:15:04,820
We were out resting now on the 6th and
7th.

154
00:15:05,100 --> 00:15:07,900
We were behind the ridge, nice cover.

155
00:15:08,680 --> 00:15:14,780
And all of a sudden, the Japanese officer
coming on the horseback, full gallop.

156
00:15:14,920 --> 00:15:17,280
He said, Germans, finish, Germans,
finish.

157
00:15:17,920 --> 00:15:18,880
White flag is up.

158
00:15:18,881 --> 00:15:23,340
And they surrendered on the 7th,
on a Sunday morning, the 7th of November.

159
00:15:27,880 --> 00:15:32,820
Now the last islands to fly the German
flag in the Pacific fell one by one.

160
00:15:33,120 --> 00:15:37,780
The Marianas and the Carolines,
the Marshalls and Bougainville.

161
00:15:38,580 --> 00:15:43,760
And one by one, Admiral von Spee lost his
hopes of coal and sucker.

162
00:15:45,040 --> 00:15:48,060
His sleek ships steamed on in isolation.

163
00:15:48,820 --> 00:15:51,120
Winston Churchill described his dilemma.

164
00:15:51,900 --> 00:15:55,349
With the blockade of
Tsing Tau, he was cut off

165
00:15:55,350 --> 00:15:58,140
from his only base on
that side of the world.

166
00:15:58,141 --> 00:16:04,100
To steam at full speed, or at high speed,
for any length of time, on any quest,

167
00:16:04,440 --> 00:16:06,140
was to use up his life rapidly.

168
00:16:06,860 --> 00:16:08,860
He was a cut flower in a vase.

169
00:16:09,900 --> 00:16:12,640
Fair to see, yet bound to die.

170
00:16:21,920 --> 00:16:24,500
Germany's African empire was crumbling
too.

171
00:16:25,060 --> 00:16:27,220
In August, Togoland fell.

172
00:16:27,480 --> 00:16:29,420
In September, the Cameroons.

173
00:16:31,300 --> 00:16:33,120
Southwest Africa was attacked.

174
00:16:34,220 --> 00:16:37,719
The operation was delayed
by a rebellion of Afrikaners,

175
00:16:37,720 --> 00:16:40,420
who wanted to reverse
the result of the Boer War.

176
00:16:43,820 --> 00:16:49,901
Rebels were killed, dispersed or captured,
but the Germans had been granted a respite.

177
00:16:50,340 --> 00:16:56,141
But by the summer of 1915, the Union flag
flew over the whole of this vast territory.

178
00:17:05,880 --> 00:17:09,320
The first invasion of German East Africa
ended in rout.

179
00:17:13,990 --> 00:17:17,068
A British and Indian
force, poorly commanded

180
00:17:17,069 --> 00:17:20,011
and poorly trained, landed
on the swampy coast.

181
00:17:22,590 --> 00:17:27,050
Amid muddles and misunderstandings,
they were attacked by well-trained African

182
00:17:27,051 --> 00:17:31,830
Ascaris under a great German commander,
Colonel von Letow Vorbeck.

183
00:17:32,610 --> 00:17:37,270
The British, their invasion hopes
shattered by dysentery and gunfire,

184
00:17:37,450 --> 00:17:43,470
withdrew after four days, leaving behind
800 dead and many prisoners, as well as

185
00:17:43,471 --> 00:17:46,090
enough guns and
ammunition, coats and blankets,

186
00:17:46,091 --> 00:17:48,931
to supply the German
garrison for years.

187
00:17:49,350 --> 00:17:55,430
Von Letow Vorbeck and his mobile force of
never more than 15,000 harassed up to

188
00:17:55,431 --> 00:17:59,890
130,000 Allied troops till the very end of
the war.

189
00:18:14,970 --> 00:18:19,630
East Africa held out, but the German
Empire had disappeared from the map.

190
00:18:20,050 --> 00:18:22,250
Her merchant fleet had also disappeared.

191
00:18:22,830 --> 00:18:27,630
The blockade mounted by the British Navy
on the first day of war was doing its work.

192
00:18:27,631 --> 00:18:32,990
German merchant ships were penned up in
neutral ports all round the world.

193
00:18:41,940 --> 00:18:46,300
Ships of neutral nations were prevented
from bringing her any materials of war.

194
00:18:46,900 --> 00:18:50,640
This created an instant source of friction
between Britain and America.

195
00:18:51,920 --> 00:18:58,000
Lloyd George wrote... Germany's chief
power was on land, Britain's on the sea.

196
00:18:58,001 --> 00:19:04,280
Germany's invasion of Belgium,
her devastation of France, might arouse

197
00:19:04,281 --> 00:19:09,560
disinterested wrath in America,
but it did not touch American pockets.

198
00:19:09,960 --> 00:19:16,520
On the other hand, Britain's firm measures
to prevent contraband of war from reaching

199
00:19:16,521 --> 00:19:22,410
Germany, and her wide and constantly
widening interpretation of contraband,

200
00:19:22,411 --> 00:19:26,176
caused serious inconvenience
to American shipping,

201
00:19:26,177 --> 00:19:29,151
and direct interference
with American business.

202
00:19:29,450 --> 00:19:34,930
It was a test of diplomacy, as Britain and
Germany competed for America's sympathy.

203
00:19:35,670 --> 00:19:39,030
President Wilson's confidential advisor
said...

204
00:19:39,031 --> 00:19:43,350
The British have gone as far as they
possibly could in violating neutral

205
00:19:43,351 --> 00:19:47,190
rights, though they have done it in the
most courteous way.

206
00:19:49,990 --> 00:19:53,230
President Wilson had determined to keep
America out of war.

207
00:19:53,510 --> 00:19:55,450
He contented himself with protests.

208
00:19:58,720 --> 00:20:03,380
And now, under the protection of the Royal
Navy, soldiers from Britain and the

209
00:20:03,381 --> 00:20:07,080
British Empire poured unmolested into
France and Egypt.

210
00:20:25,170 --> 00:20:30,210
In October, the first Canadian contingent
left Halifax, Nova Scotia, for France.

211
00:20:30,510 --> 00:20:32,730
Over 31,000 soldiers.

212
00:20:32,731 --> 00:20:36,830
The greatest concentration ever carried by
ship in a single journey.

213
00:20:37,610 --> 00:20:42,010
Everywhere, the oceans were a broad and
safe high road for the Allies.

214
00:20:42,470 --> 00:20:46,830
For troops from India, sailing to protect
the oil fields of the Persian Gulf.

215
00:20:49,030 --> 00:20:53,710
For Australians and New Zealanders bound
for Egypt, where Indian and British

216
00:20:53,711 --> 00:20:56,950
soldiers were defending the Suez Canal
against the Turk.

217
00:20:59,570 --> 00:21:05,190
In all this vast traffic, not one soldier
was lost through German naval attacks.

218
00:21:07,250 --> 00:21:10,259
The same sea power
protected Britain's merchant

219
00:21:10,260 --> 00:21:13,551
trade, more vital
now than ever before.

220
00:21:24,870 --> 00:21:27,048
Everywhere, the
Allies sailed safely over

221
00:21:27,049 --> 00:21:30,631
the oceans under the
wing of the Royal Navy.

222
00:21:37,610 --> 00:21:41,190
But it is the duty of a fleet to destroy
enemy warships.

223
00:21:42,010 --> 00:21:44,969
On August the 28th,
the Admiralty planned a

224
00:21:44,970 --> 00:21:47,930
daring assault deep into
German home waters.

225
00:21:48,370 --> 00:21:52,770
Their destination was Heligoland Bight,
the stretch of sea between the small,

226
00:21:52,930 --> 00:21:57,570
heavily armed island fortress of
Heligoland, and the mouths of the Elbe and

227
00:21:57,571 --> 00:22:00,830
the Yada, where the main German fleet was
concentrated.

228
00:22:03,110 --> 00:22:07,590
The Admiralty knew that German destroyers
patrolled this area every night.

229
00:22:08,270 --> 00:22:10,410
They'd planned a trap for the Germans.

230
00:22:19,400 --> 00:22:22,324
But when German light
cruisers appeared on the scene,

231
00:22:22,325 --> 00:22:24,821
the British destroyers found
themselves in difficulties.

232
00:22:35,160 --> 00:22:39,000
Then suddenly, an impressive new element
surged into the battle.

233
00:22:39,260 --> 00:22:42,360
Admiral Beattie's battle cruisers racing
into action.

234
00:22:42,700 --> 00:22:46,420
They quickly pounded the German cruisers
into wrecks with their big guns.

235
00:22:56,450 --> 00:23:00,350
Admiralty's signalling models caused much
confusion among the British squadrons,

236
00:23:00,430 --> 00:23:03,410
but the action was an unqualified British
success.

237
00:23:03,850 --> 00:23:05,330
They lost no ships.

238
00:23:05,610 --> 00:23:08,190
The Germans lost three cruisers and a
destroyer.

239
00:23:08,191 --> 00:23:10,650
A defeat right on their own doorstep.

240
00:23:11,550 --> 00:23:15,310
Admiral Tirpitz, creator of the High Seas
fleet, lamented...

241
00:23:16,030 --> 00:23:18,690
It was a day fateful for the work of our
navy.

242
00:23:19,150 --> 00:23:21,910
The Emperor did not want losses of this
sort.

243
00:23:22,490 --> 00:23:27,370
Orders were issued by the Kaiser,
framed to restrict still further the

244
00:23:27,371 --> 00:23:30,270
initiative of the Commander-in-Chief of
the North Sea Fleet.

245
00:23:30,650 --> 00:23:32,610
The loss of ships was to be avoided.

246
00:23:33,170 --> 00:23:39,030
Fleet sorties and any greater undertakings
must be approved by the Kaiser in advance.

247
00:23:39,970 --> 00:23:42,290
Germany turned to her underwater weapons.

248
00:23:42,650 --> 00:23:48,170
The frightening potential of mine and
torpedo was still a haunting enigma.

249
00:24:03,670 --> 00:24:07,310
Soon, they gained an outstanding and
ominous success.

250
00:24:07,311 --> 00:24:13,110
On September 22nd, near the Dutch coast,
one of Germany's oldest U-boats,

251
00:24:13,290 --> 00:24:16,595
the U-9, sighted a
patrol of three old British

252
00:24:16,596 --> 00:24:19,851
cruisers, the Hogue, the
Aboukir and the Cressy.

253
00:24:22,310 --> 00:24:26,510
Within an hour, it had sunk all three,
with a loss of 1,400 lives.

254
00:24:27,410 --> 00:24:30,150
More men than Nelson lost in all his
battles.

255
00:24:32,970 --> 00:24:38,290
On October 27th, Audacious, a new British
dreadnought, hit a mine and blew up.

256
00:24:38,690 --> 00:24:41,017
All the crew were
saved, but it was another

257
00:24:41,018 --> 00:24:44,110
alarming sign of the
shifting balance of naval war.

258
00:24:52,250 --> 00:24:56,690
On the surface, too, Germany still boasted
one conspicuous success.

259
00:24:57,490 --> 00:25:02,730
The cruiser Emden, detached from Von
Spee's squadron, was pursuing a hectic and

260
00:25:02,731 --> 00:25:06,430
brilliant career of destruction in the
busy sea lanes of the Indian Ocean.

261
00:25:06,990 --> 00:25:10,309
She was a scarlet
pimpernel of the sea, gallant,

262
00:25:10,310 --> 00:25:13,270
elusive, always springing
surprises on her pursuers.

263
00:25:16,570 --> 00:25:18,970
Emden's exploits rang round the world.

264
00:25:19,270 --> 00:25:22,070
She captured or sank merchant ship after
merchant ship.

265
00:25:28,470 --> 00:25:31,930
If they were colliers, she filled her
bunkers and took a new lease of life.

266
00:25:32,690 --> 00:25:36,190
Eight British men of war combed the Indian
Ocean for her in vain.

267
00:25:37,070 --> 00:25:38,890
Marine insurance rates rocketed.

268
00:25:39,230 --> 00:25:42,030
She delayed the sailing of a New Zealand
troop convoy.

269
00:25:42,270 --> 00:25:46,790
She entered Penang Harbour and sank a
Russian and a French warship.

270
00:26:05,410 --> 00:26:09,090
One night, she entered the port of Madras
and switched on her searchlights.

271
00:26:09,091 --> 00:26:12,130
Her guns blazed away at the shore oil
tanks.

272
00:26:14,250 --> 00:26:17,750
They were wrecked, and a million and a
half gallons went up in smoke.

273
00:26:18,450 --> 00:26:22,890
In Britain, the Admiralty's prestige was
shaken, as even the First Lord,

274
00:26:23,190 --> 00:26:24,730
Winston Churchill, had to admit.

275
00:26:25,130 --> 00:26:28,387
The press and public
were not in a position to

276
00:26:28,388 --> 00:26:30,891
understand all that the
Admiralty was doing.

277
00:26:31,070 --> 00:26:34,783
They saw only a few German
cruisers doing whatever

278
00:26:34,784 --> 00:26:37,590
they chose and sinking
British merchantmen.

279
00:26:37,910 --> 00:26:42,210
A great deal of discontent began to make
itself heard and felt.

280
00:26:44,290 --> 00:26:48,464
After two profitable months,
Emden sailed to the Cocos Islands

281
00:26:48,465 --> 00:26:51,970
and sent a landing party
ashore to wreck the radio station.

282
00:27:00,550 --> 00:27:03,770
But the new weapon of radio was her
undoing.

283
00:27:04,410 --> 00:27:07,143
The operator had already
signalled for help, and

284
00:27:07,144 --> 00:27:10,070
the Australian cruiser
Sydney was on her way.

285
00:27:39,170 --> 00:27:42,270
Outgunned and outranged, ran herself onto
a reef.

286
00:27:44,890 --> 00:27:47,250
The Indian Ocean was safe again.

287
00:27:48,690 --> 00:27:52,830
Now the flame of German naval imperialism
was flickering out.

288
00:27:53,290 --> 00:27:55,230
Only Von Spey remained.

289
00:27:55,590 --> 00:27:58,330
From the outbreak of war, he had eluded
his pursuers.

290
00:27:58,890 --> 00:28:02,371
Alone with his five ships,
cut off from his colonies,

291
00:28:02,372 --> 00:28:05,170
he steamed on in the
empty vastness of the Pacific.

292
00:28:06,210 --> 00:28:10,670
Every day, Churchill studied charts of his
possible position and stared at his

293
00:28:10,671 --> 00:28:14,810
Admiralty map, pondering where the Asiatic
squadron might be.

294
00:28:15,590 --> 00:28:19,250
At last, news came that it was sailing
towards the coast of Chile.

295
00:28:23,250 --> 00:28:25,320
Admiral Craddock,
commanding a British squadron

296
00:28:25,321 --> 00:28:27,831
in the Pacific, was
ordered to hunt him down.

297
00:28:28,690 --> 00:28:29,730
Craddock wrote...

298
00:28:30,130 --> 00:28:34,330
Somehow, I think we shall say,
how do you do to these Teutonic gentlemen?

299
00:28:35,030 --> 00:28:38,790
I'm generally pretty lucky, and we don't
want any more disappointments.

300
00:28:39,490 --> 00:28:44,390
Craddock, with the old cruisers Good Hope
and Monmouth, and the light cruiser

301
00:28:44,391 --> 00:28:48,077
Glasgow and the armed
merchant cruiser Otranto, found

302
00:28:48,078 --> 00:28:51,530
Von Spey near the Bay of
Coronel, off the coast of Chile.

303
00:28:55,390 --> 00:29:05,930
We formed Singaline ahead, and Good Hope
fired a range in shot, which was short.

304
00:29:06,670 --> 00:29:11,490
The enemy then opened up with repelling
salvos.

305
00:29:12,190 --> 00:29:17,950
We did not possess that method of firing,
but it soon became apparent to us that

306
00:29:17,951 --> 00:29:21,870
both the Monmouth and the Good Hope were
under severe punishment.

307
00:29:22,330 --> 00:29:27,768
About one hour, there was a
terrific explosion in the Good

308
00:29:27,769 --> 00:29:33,870
Hope, and she went up like a
huge bouquet, and disappeared.

309
00:29:37,980 --> 00:29:41,740
After that, they concentrated on the
Monmouth, and us.

310
00:29:44,440 --> 00:29:50,921
And the Monmouth were soon in trouble,
and could make very little effective reply.

311
00:29:51,540 --> 00:29:54,640
The Monmouth sank, and the whole crew was
drowned.

312
00:29:55,360 --> 00:29:57,880
Craddock, too, was drowned with the crew
of the Good Hope.

313
00:29:58,560 --> 00:30:02,120
A fellow admiral said of him, Poor Kit
Craddock.

314
00:30:02,240 --> 00:30:04,940
He'd always wanted to die on the hunting
field or in action.

315
00:30:10,170 --> 00:30:13,585
News of the black defeat at
Coronel staggered a British

316
00:30:13,586 --> 00:30:16,590
public reared on the legend
of an unconquerable navy.

317
00:30:17,710 --> 00:30:24,130
U-boats, mines, the Emden, and now a
British squadron smashed in a fair fight.

318
00:30:24,690 --> 00:30:29,611
The admiralty, already under heavy
criticism, reacted instantly and ferociously.

319
00:30:29,710 --> 00:30:32,223
The battlecruisers,
invincible and inflexible,

320
00:30:32,224 --> 00:30:36,410
were ordered out to find
Fonspey and destroy him.

321
00:30:36,550 --> 00:30:38,090
There was to be no delay.

322
00:30:38,430 --> 00:30:43,370
The admiral superintendent, Devonport,
reports that the earliest possible date

323
00:30:43,371 --> 00:30:48,651
for completion of Invincible and Inflexible
is midnight the 13th of November.

324
00:30:48,770 --> 00:30:50,470
Admiralty to CMC, Devonport.

325
00:30:50,770 --> 00:30:53,890
Ships are to sail Wednesday the 11th of
November.

326
00:30:54,370 --> 00:30:58,090
They are needed for war service and
dockyard arrangements must conform.

327
00:30:58,490 --> 00:31:01,200
If necessary, dockyard
men should be sent away

328
00:31:01,201 --> 00:31:04,631
in the ships to return
as opportunity may offer.

329
00:31:04,770 --> 00:31:07,360
You are held responsible
for the speedy dispatch

330
00:31:07,361 --> 00:31:09,951
of these ships in a
thoroughly efficient condition.

331
00:31:10,710 --> 00:31:14,830
On Wednesday, November the 11th,
the two great ships under Admiral Sturdy

332
00:31:14,831 --> 00:31:18,930
steamed south towards the South Atlantic
and the Falkland Islands.

333
00:31:27,380 --> 00:31:31,560
Forty-five allied warships were now after
Fonspey's blood.

334
00:31:32,020 --> 00:31:33,940
He had no illusions.

335
00:31:34,380 --> 00:31:39,520
We have at least contributed in a certain
measure to the glory of our arms,

336
00:31:40,020 --> 00:31:46,561
although that cannot signify greatly against
the enormous number of British ships.

337
00:31:46,940 --> 00:31:50,159
Unknown to each other,
Fonspey and Sturdy were

338
00:31:50,160 --> 00:31:53,541
steaming towards the
same place at the same time.

339
00:31:53,800 --> 00:31:54,940
The Falklands.

340
00:31:57,640 --> 00:31:59,220
Sturdy arrived first.

341
00:31:59,221 --> 00:32:04,560
He was coaling in the morning after his
arrival when he received the signal of

342
00:32:04,561 --> 00:32:07,320
four-funnelled and a two-funnelled
man-of-war in sight.

343
00:32:08,660 --> 00:32:12,920
The ships he was scouring the ocean for
were sailing into his arms.

344
00:32:13,920 --> 00:32:17,640
The British crews worked feverishly to
prepare their ships for the chase.

345
00:32:27,090 --> 00:32:30,650
The Germans at first thought they had
surprised a cruiser squadron.

346
00:32:31,530 --> 00:32:35,270
Then, suddenly, the Germans saw the tripod
masts.

347
00:32:36,250 --> 00:32:36,890
Battlecruisers.

348
00:32:37,230 --> 00:32:39,050
They meant certain death.

349
00:32:39,810 --> 00:32:41,710
The battlecruisers swept out of the
harbour.

350
00:32:42,170 --> 00:32:46,530
For three hours they chased Fonspey,
eating up his 15-mile lead.

351
00:32:50,690 --> 00:32:53,270
At nine miles, Sturdy opened fire.

352
00:32:56,350 --> 00:33:01,770
The Scharnhorst and the Gneisnau fought
back gallantly, but they had no hope.

353
00:33:02,050 --> 00:33:04,410
We could feel one or two shots coming.

354
00:33:05,210 --> 00:33:07,430
And hitting us, we could hear...

355
00:33:07,950 --> 00:33:09,868
We could hear the
shots piercing in the

356
00:33:09,869 --> 00:33:13,370
funnels and the
superstructure and the casings.

357
00:33:14,410 --> 00:33:15,090
And...

358
00:33:15,091 --> 00:33:20,950
But we were assured, from time to time,
from the bridge, that all was going well.

359
00:33:24,810 --> 00:33:26,850
Sturdy's advantage was overwhelming.

360
00:33:27,550 --> 00:33:29,550
The British gunnery was uneven.

361
00:33:30,030 --> 00:33:34,770
And many shells that did land on target
failed to pierce the German armour.

362
00:33:56,520 --> 00:33:59,500
It was five hours before Scharnhorst sank.

363
00:34:00,300 --> 00:34:01,860
Gneisnau soon followed her.

364
00:34:02,920 --> 00:34:05,420
The Kent finished off the light cruiser
Nuenberg.

365
00:34:05,421 --> 00:34:08,020
He was on fire, far and aft.

366
00:34:09,280 --> 00:34:10,280
And...

367
00:34:10,420 --> 00:34:12,718
Some of them were
jumping into the water on

368
00:34:12,719 --> 00:34:15,180
bits of wreckage, so
as to try and get to us.

369
00:34:15,240 --> 00:34:17,080
But the seas were icy cold.

370
00:34:17,320 --> 00:34:21,580
We all had the impression that those
Germans were very, very plucky people.

371
00:34:21,581 --> 00:34:26,800
I actually saw one man pull out the flag
that was aft.

372
00:34:28,040 --> 00:34:31,470
How I got hold of it, and I
saw him as he was sinking under

373
00:34:31,471 --> 00:34:34,680
the water, still waving that
flag as that ship went down.

374
00:34:34,840 --> 00:34:37,900
Much to say, Deutschland, still Uber
Alice.

375
00:34:38,560 --> 00:34:40,960
Only one light cruiser escaped.

376
00:34:42,400 --> 00:34:46,940
Coronel was avenged, at the expense of
three quarters of the battlecruiser's

377
00:34:46,941 --> 00:34:52,801
ammunition, and... some disturbing questions
about the quality of British gunnery.

378
00:34:53,640 --> 00:34:57,340
A month later, on the other side of the
globe, another battle raised more

379
00:34:57,341 --> 00:34:59,960
questions, this time about British
signalling.

380
00:35:00,520 --> 00:35:03,273
A British battlecruiser
force in the North Sea

381
00:35:03,274 --> 00:35:06,401
met a smaller German
one near the Dogger Bank.

382
00:35:26,760 --> 00:35:30,600
Their heavy cruiser, Blücher, was badly
hit and burning.

383
00:35:31,040 --> 00:35:32,500
She began to slow down.

384
00:35:33,140 --> 00:35:37,042
The British flagship, also
damaged and her radio gone, flag

385
00:35:37,043 --> 00:35:40,460
signalled the other ships to
continue chasing the fleeing Germans.

386
00:35:41,140 --> 00:35:45,169
But by a combination of
mistakes, the whole force stopped

387
00:35:45,170 --> 00:35:48,280
pursuing and turned on
the already doomed Blücher.

388
00:35:57,400 --> 00:36:03,900
We annihilated her, brought her to rest,
and she was in a very bad position.

389
00:36:04,240 --> 00:36:08,700
But the most extraordinary thing about it
was that she was heeling over,

390
00:36:09,400 --> 00:36:12,369
and there must have
been over a thousand men

391
00:36:12,370 --> 00:36:15,240
clambering up the deck,
onto the side of the ship.

392
00:36:15,600 --> 00:36:19,747
And as she steadily rolled
over again, so they was

393
00:36:19,748 --> 00:36:22,821
sliding down the side
of the ship into the water.

394
00:36:23,580 --> 00:36:25,520
The German battlecruisers escaped.

395
00:36:26,480 --> 00:36:29,346
Safe in harbour again
after their brief foray,

396
00:36:29,406 --> 00:36:32,180
they returned to
their old, passive role.

397
00:36:32,680 --> 00:36:34,960
But recreation was not victory.

398
00:36:35,480 --> 00:36:38,780
The German fleet had little
to show after six months

399
00:36:38,781 --> 00:36:41,720
of war, except confirmation
of the Kaiser's fears.

400
00:36:42,440 --> 00:36:45,460
The British Grand Fleet was too strong for
them.

401
00:36:46,440 --> 00:36:47,840
Morale was in danger.

402
00:36:47,841 --> 00:36:51,120
The Kaiser had to issue a special order to
his fleet.

403
00:36:51,560 --> 00:36:58,160
I urge you to maintain a spirit of
cheerful fulfilment of duty, even when

404
00:36:58,161 --> 00:37:02,460
there has so far been no opportunity in
the face of the enemy, or where,

405
00:37:02,461 --> 00:37:07,100
in all human probability, no such
opportunity is likely to occur at all.

406
00:37:08,380 --> 00:37:10,420
The German Navy had failed.

407
00:37:13,520 --> 00:37:16,460
But the British had not entirely
succeeded.

408
00:37:17,380 --> 00:37:21,240
Six months of war had revealed ominous
weaknesses in British training.

409
00:37:21,880 --> 00:37:25,920
It was a fine training of character and
seamanship in the long tradition of Drake

410
00:37:25,921 --> 00:37:30,280
and Nelson, but less adapted to the
technology of modern naval war.

411
00:37:31,340 --> 00:37:35,560
At Dogger and Heligoland, there had been
grave signalling errors.

412
00:37:36,120 --> 00:37:41,260
At the Falklands, Sturdy's guns took five
hours to sink Von Spee, whereas at

413
00:37:41,261 --> 00:37:44,140
Coronel, Von Spee had destroyed Craddock
in an hour.

414
00:37:45,180 --> 00:37:49,700
The main base at Scarpa Flow was still
weakly defended against U-boats.

415
00:37:50,360 --> 00:37:54,480
Thoughtful observers noted defects in
British equipment and in tactics.

416
00:37:55,340 --> 00:37:58,920
The long lack of a naval staff was
beginning to tell.

417
00:37:59,820 --> 00:38:02,540
Yet the balance sheet was decidedly in
Britain's favour.

418
00:38:03,260 --> 00:38:08,000
The German Navy might still be powerful
and intact, but her fleet was penned up in

419
00:38:08,001 --> 00:38:10,631
harbour, her merchant
ships had disappeared from

420
00:38:10,632 --> 00:38:12,980
the seas, and all her
colonies had been seized.

421
00:38:32,900 --> 00:38:37,200
In the first months of the war,
the Royal Navy had done its job.

422
00:38:38,080 --> 00:38:41,849
Only a few sensed the
absence of the Nelson touch,

423
00:38:41,850 --> 00:38:45,960
and of the tremendous
superior might of Nelson's day.

424
00:38:45,961 --> 00:38:47,709
The sea dice into the
Against the Coincreons

425
00:38:47,721 --> 00:38:49,361
Of when reformers
supposed to possessions