Original subtitles

Someone take charge!

HMS Trenchant is a £1 billion nuclear submarine...

I want an immediate report from the periscope. Aye, sir.

...known as a hunter-killer.

That's a new one there, I reckon.

Right, guys, let's get ourselves in.

Whoa, whoa, get back! Back!

This top secret boat is designed to silently track enemy vessels...

Warships, submarines, anything that makes a noise in the ocean,

we can hear.

...and keep them out of British waters.

But for her all male-crew, this is also home.

We're used to bumping into each other a lot.

No privacy.

Sexy.

For the very first time, our cameras have been given unprecedented access

to Trenchant's four-month mission...

ALARM BLARES I need some help over here.

...as she protects the British Trident nuclear deterrent...

There is a threat unit out. We need to be ready immediately.

...and faces the challenges of living life under the sea.

There's a lot riding on this, but that's what I get paid for.

It's 8.00 in the morning.

HMS Trenchant is getting ready to leave port.

Morning, fellas. All right? Good.

Morning, gents.

All set? Aye. Good. That's the right answer.

41-year-old Dave Burrell has been the captain of the submarine

for nearly two years.

How was the training session? All right? Yeah.

Command of a nuclear submarine's the thing that I joined the Navy to do.

I think I'm a people person.

I think that's really important.

How you doing, fellas? All right?

Off to do a set of rounds, just walk round the boat,

make sure everything's as it should be.

Hello, navs.

Captain's first stop is the control room

to check in with his navigator.

Right, what's the plan?

LAUGHTER

Not driving the reactor against the rocks,

that's tactical level thought in your world, isn't it?

I think I'm generally happy with that.

OK. I'll take that.

Trenchant is the smallest of the Royal Navy's nuclear submarines,

and is home to a male crew of up to 130.

In there, that's where the reactor's controlled from,

but unfortunately, we're not allowed to film back there.

The top-secret nuclear reactor powers Trenchant's engines,

and means she can go for years without refuelling.

It's easy to see a submarine and see what is the most complicated machine

on the planet, but fundamentally, it's a village under the water.

How we doing? All right?

This is the ward room.

Normally, about 20 officers live, eat, work.

The ward room is used by the most senior crew on board.

We've got some exciting work to do this afternoon,

by the look of things.

In there is the recreation and dining space.

LAUGHTER

Incredibly small space. About 60 of them that all try and cram in there.

Heading to the galley, see what's for dinner.

Right, what we got today?

This evening, we've got slow-roast belly pork with a barbecue sauce.

Very nice.

And we've also got minted chilli lamb stew.

Oh. See, that's tough.

The beating heart of the submarine is the galley.

The normal things that will keep a relatively young, healthy male

happy, such as beer, exposure to the opposite sex, social media,

they're not here, so how do we keep the boys happy?

We keep them happy by giving them exceptional food.

Sunshine Squadron down in Devonport.

Yeah, you're moving things down into the boat now.

Lieutenant Andy Pandian is loading the last

of the crew's food supplies.

I think there's 15,000 rashers of bacon, so we are cooking

130 cooked breakfast every day, 130 lunches, suppers, and evening meals.

For me, I was always going to join the Armed Forces.

It's the whole service ethos.

I like being part of something bigger than myself.

As the logistics officer, Andy must ensure there's enough food

on board to last for 120 days.

There's no chance to resupply once they're under water.

I'm very much the least cutting-edge of the ship's company,

being the officer in charge of sausages.

Catering for 130 people is, you have 130 food critics on board,

and 130 Michelin star chefs.

No matter what the chaps do, there's always going to be a critic.

The only way to load thousands of chicken breasts,

a quarter tonne of rice, 600 litres of milk and 10,000 teabags

is through the main hatch by hand.

Come on, lads.

LAUGHTER

There's no room on board for a dedicated food store.

It's packed into cupboards and hidey holes all over the submarine.

So this is three deck on the submarine,

so around here, you've got some living spaces.

You've got my office here.

Underneath us, we also have number three naval store,

which is where I hold the bulk of my dry provisions.

That is a way to make cereal surprisingly popular

when we offer a cooked breakfast every day.

I think that's pretty much everything loaded now.

Morning, fellas. Relax, thank you.

With the stores on board and minutes to go until departure,

the senior officers are being briefed on the mission.

OK, immediately, we're required to do some high-intensity operations

to go and locate enemy submarines

in protection of the UK's independent nuclear deterrent.

Trenchent's mission is to defend Britain's Trident nuclear missiles.

Trident is housed on a British submarine currently somewhere

on patrol in the North Atlantic, over 1,000 miles away.

You need to be ready to hit the ground running today, OK?

The Trident submarine is the number one thing that underpins the safety

and security of the United Kingdom.

It's our job to make sure that that deterrent isn't threatened.

That means absolute focus, absolute eyes out the front on safety,

avoiding counter detection, and achieving the aim.

Questions?

That's it. Carry on.

Command approved. Starboard side.

Shut and clip the main access hatch.

Shut and clipped.

With the submarine sealed,

preparations for departure are now at an end.

There's a certain sense of relief.

The goodbyes are done.

Boys are ready to go.

Gents, that's the submarine now in fit condition to sail.

All lines let go.

HMS Trenchant's Mission...

WHISTLE BLOWS

...is now under way.

Outbound to outbound, one three. Over.

The operations of British submarines are highly classified.

Once she's left port,

Trenchant's movements become a closely-guarded secret.

It's a nice day for it, though.

You got mixed emotions.

I'll definitely miss my family, being back at home.

Trenchant must now travel to a secret location

deep in the North Atlantic...

...where Trident is on patrol.

The most important task that the UK military does

is the nuclear deterrent.

It is now for us to go and make sure that we keep that deterrent safe.

It will push every member of the ship's company to their limit.

The Royal Navy's hunter-killer submarine, HMS Trenchant,

is heading north towards the Atlantic.

Executive officerjimmy Dent is on his morning inspection rounds.

It takes two hours to check every compartment on the submarine.

As Trenchant's second in command,

it's Jim's job to maintain strict standards on board.

Very tight.

Each sleeping compartment is home to 60 men,

but it's only the size of a single garage.

The crew hot-bunk, which means two men share one bed,

swapping over every six hours.

What's that?

Body butter.

I am very cross.

HMS Trenchant is still sailing on the surface

because of the shallow waters around the British Isles.

Fellas, how we doing? All right? Good?

SA Clark is driving the boat,

doing a great job of it, which is all the more remarkable

considering he's never actually driven a car,

but is fully qualified to drive a 5,000-tonne nuclear submarine.

Trenchant is now about to enter the North Atlantic,

and it's only here that the water is finally deep enough

to attempt her first dive beneath the surface.

Captain, roger. Unlock emergency blows.

All main vents are shut.

Check. Yeah, happy-

Depth of water 150 metres.

Rogen

After six months in port, there's only one way for the captain

to test if Trenchant is still watertight.

Dive submarine. Dive submarine. Aye, sir.

Ship control, diving now.

Trenchant descends slowly.

Three and a half, 5.85 metres.

12 metres. Good. 16 metres.

Now she's underwater, every door and hatch must be checked for leaks.

OK, we're happy-

Now fully and safely underwater,

Trenchant can continue her journey towards Trident in secret.

Well done.

Short back and sides? Yes, please. OK.

20-year-old Joe Montey is one of the youngest members of the crew.

Short back and sides to be blended in, and a little bit off the top.

Not too much, because I don't want to go bald, but still enough there.

I grew up in Middlesbrough, got to the end of school,

done my GCSEs, didn't do as well as I expected.

My brother-in-law said, "Why don't you look at joining the Navy?"

and I thought, "This is actually something I want to do."

The rules are quite stringent of what we're allowed

and what we're not for haircuts, and as long as it's off the ears

and off the collar, and it's no longer than 15 centimetres on top,

you know, you're pretty good.

Adapting to the submarine life is quite hard.

You've got to get into that routine of being in that cramped space

and just getting on with it.

Is that good enough? Yeah. Happy.

Definitely not!

Joe is one of Trenchant's sonar operators.

Now the submarine is underwater,

it's one of the most important jobs on board.

Cancel down. Track 4-6.

LOUD STATIC

The sonar is so sensitive, it can pick up underwater sounds

hundreds of miles away, from large marine life to enemy submarines.

Track 6-4, bearing 1-4-8.

MUFFLED SOUND

Joe's just picked up a muffled sound...

...an unidentified boat somewhere ahead of them.

Track 6-4. Stand by.

He needs to identify it...

Two seconds.

...and work out if it's a threat.

I've got... Right, here we go.

According to Navy rules,

Trenchant must stay well away from a fishing boat.

Stand by classification.

If the submarine got tangled in her nets,

it could drag the boat and her crew underwater.

A message is sent to the control room.

All right.

Trenchant now gives the fishing boat a wide berth.

Suspending 5-2.

Just 6-4. Roger.

Suspending 0-8.

It's quite hard. I basically watch a screen

while listening to what we have in the ocean.

Some days you think, "l can't do this any more,"

so you've got to get into that routine of

being in that cramped space and just getting on with it.

ALARM BLARES

One of the crew has been injured.

Can I get another first aider?

Excuse me.

The incident is near the nuclear reactor,

a classified part of the boat.

SHOUTING

Brief you on the casualty?

What he's done, he's put his right hand onto some steam pipework

for about three seconds.

At the moment, we've got a two- to three-inch partial thickness burn

to his right palm.

It's already started to blister as well.

We're monitoring his pain.

We've given some pain relief as it is.

Yes, sir.

If the sailor needs hospital treatment...

...Trenchant will be forced to surface...

...and that means giving away her location.

HMS Trenchant is sailing underwater

450 miles off the west coast of Scotland...

...but engineer jack Bellamy has suffered serious burns

and needs evacuating.

I was changing a lamp, and I went to go reposition myself,

and touched a main steam pipework, burnt my hand,

and now I can't...

I've literally scrambled egged my hand,

and the skin is not looking good, so they've put a bandage on it.

It's still in pain now.

But getting him off the submarine isn't easy.

Good morning, HMS Trenchant. This is the SA speaking.

This morning, we'll be conducting a boat transfer

to get one of our personnel off. That is all.

British warship HMS Sutherland has arrived to collect him.

Now making its approach, bearing 1-1-3.

Warship, warship. This is submarine channel 7-4. Over.

Surface, submarine. Surface, submarine.

115, all happy?

Jim Dent is worried about the rough sea.

Clipped on.

Despite the weather, they decide to go for it.

Wait there. Hold there.

With only one good hand, Jake must climb down

and time a backwards jump into the speedboat.

Coming up now.

Whoa, whoa, get back! Back!

We've just come up. We've just come up this way.

Good work, team.

Now he's safely on board,

Bellamy will be back in a British hospital in the next 24 hours.

Bellamy, you all right?

Right, guys, let's get ourselves in, let's get the ladder in,

let's get done.

This is surface submarine.

That boat transfer is now complete.

Thank you for the excellent handling of your sea boat there.

I'm not sure we could have done it with not such a good crew. Over.

So every time you put men on the casing, it gets your heart rate up.

It's a risky thing to do.

But it was well handled today, so I think the success of this is

borne down to that, but we need to get back underwater now.

Every moment Trenchant spends on the surface,

she risks being seen by spy satellites or enemy radars.

Captain speaking.

End of operation. Lower the submarine.

Once underwater, Trenchant can resume her journey

into the North Atlantic,

hoping she hasn't been spotted.

Steam!

It's Saturday night. There we go. Bing-bong!

HMS Trenchant has two day chefs and one night chef,

who produce meals around-the-clock. Tasting all right.

I reckon Gordon Ramsay would be proud.

Learned from the best, haven't we?

The galley is one of the busiest places on the boat -

and the hottest.

STEAK SIZZLES

We're used to bumping into each other a lot. No privacy.

Everybody knows all your comings and goings.

Chef Louis Smith is preparing the crew's favourite weekly meal.

So tonight we've got the fillet steak, we've got

southern fried chicken, sweetcorn, peas, onion rings,

chips and then a cheeseboard for dessert.

And later on tonight the lads will probably have an ice cream.

All going well? All going well, boss. All going well. Excellent.

Logistics officer Andy is in overall charge of the galley.

On Wednesday they'll have Cheesy Wham Barns, Friday fish and chips,

Saturday they have their steak night.

It's a bit like being in a really weird underwater boarding school.

It's just great fun.

Everyone gets involved, as you can see.

The queue for steak night stretches right down

the length of the submarine.

It's like the zoo in here.

There's nowhere to sit. There's music on.

People are just doing their own thing.

Yeah, it's all right. It's all right?! Steak and chips.

THEY LAUGH

At the end of the night they'll bring through a little bucketful of slop which they haven'teaten,

and if that's not very full you know you've done a good job.

No bits of steak in here, so we're all right.

I'd say everything went well tonight. Quite successful.

The worst part of the night, though, cleaning down.

I've gone from a full chef to a dish pig.

Another job done.

ALARM SOUNDS

There's a problem on two deck.

Send the oranges first, please.

One of Trenchant's two fridges has just broken down.

We've got a slight leak in the fridge,

so the idea is to basically get the refrigerant out of the fridge

and then use that to ventilate it out.

To stop poisonous gas from the fridge contaminating

the air supply---

...it's being pumped out of the boat.

Milk, definitely.

At least half of the fresh provisions will soon start to

go off, which is a headache for Andy.

Fresh fruit, fresh milk? Do you know what, I think it would

almost be worth getting the apples out in the messes, and we bring it down.

Yeah, I'm happy with that. It makes sense.

Weeks' worth of fresh supplies need to be eaten as quickly as possible.

Yes, please!

Oh, and salad! Great! Yes, please.

They must now find a way to stretch the remaining supplies.

Still got loads of dry tins and stuff like that in the fridge,

haven't we, so... Yeah.

Heaven forbid they have to have UHT with their cereal.

We embarked a significant amount of dry provisions.

This will give us the endurance to stay out

and sail even without a fridge.

In the worst case scenario we will not have fresh food, we will have

pouched meats and tinned vegetables, which I am sure will be delightful.

With no way to replenish supplies,

the crew must ration what they have left.

We've got a very creative team of chefs on board at the moment, so...

They've managed to adapt and overcome with the challenges we've faced.

All character building, I suppose. Yeah.

So are you happy with that, then, boss?

Yeah, I think that makes sense. Happy days.

News about the problem with the supplies quickly reaches the crew.

Regarding to less food, potentially onto ration packs...

...oh, not great. But it's better than not eating.

It's going to be tough, really, and you've just got to laugh it off.

The captain.

Morning, fellas. Relax, please.

After four clays at sea...

Well done for getting here.

...HMS Trenchant has arrived at a

classified location in the North Atlantic.

The Trident submarine carrying Britain's nuclear deterrent

is on patrol close by...

...and the captain has just received intelligence

about a potentially serious threat to Trident.

Right, fellas. Um...

We've been tasked to go and find an enemy submarine

that we believe to be in the area.

We don't know exactly where they are,

but we need to find than and protect Trident.

The submarine they'll be hunting for has been identified as Russian...

...and they will need to find it before it finds Trident.

Lieutenant James McNair needs to work out the best way

to begin the hunt.

Yep.

The crew have less than 12 hours to prepare.

That means you need to be on the top of your game.

It will be a stressful time for almost all the ship's company.

We won't get a lot of sleep.

But you wouldn't be doing it if you weren't capable of doing it.

Keeping Britain's nuclear deterrent safe from the Russians is now

the focus of Trenchant's mission.

Questions? That's it, thank you.

This is the most important tasking that we ever do.

This is it now.

No mistakes.

90% of this is planning and 10% is actually carrying out the plan.

The exact position of the Russian submarine is still unclear.

We exist for one reason only,

and that's defending the nuclear deterrent. The best asset to

use against another submarine is a submarine.

Intelligence has just revealed the Russians' last known position.

We don't know what course they're doing,

but they could be doing the maximum of 30 knots, for instance.

It then creates this circle.

All this is doing is saying, in this region here,

that's where they could be operating at that speed.

So you're looking at anywhere within about 105 miles at this time.

So that gives us an idea of where we can start searching.

But she could be up here, or she could be down here.

A search area of just over 100 miles puts the Russians

firmly in the range of Trenchant's sonar.

Joe Montey is about to start his next shift on the sonar.

He's reading up on the Russian submarine.

We want to be better than our enemies, we want to be better than

Russia, we want to try and find her, get as much information as possible.

It's just about getting into the books,

learning what type of submarine she is, what her speed is,

things that we can work out so we can get the best advantage over her.

The unit of interest is a Russian submarine that

carries 28 torpedo weapons on board.

And we know what machinery she has.

We know that she's very, very quiet and she's a very capable unit.

It does show how big the submarine is.

She's pretty much, like, almost double the size of us.

Which is quite scary to imagine, to be honest.

Finding the Russian submarine rests solely on Joe and the sonar team.

This is exactly the reason why I signed up.

Listening to the waters and listening,

trying to find a submarine.

I want to be the first to find her.

There is a lot riding on it for me.

With the Russian submarine somewhere out there,

all eyes are on the sonar room.

HMS Trenchant is deep under the North Atlantic,

1,000 miles from land.

It's quiet out there. It is.

Intelligence has suggested there is a Russian submarine in the area.

So far, there's no sign. OK, we need to wait for our opportunity

Aye, sir.

Ship control. Just balancing a ton and a half.

Yeah, that was already balanced... Cool, happy.

The captain slows Trenchant's engines right down to give Joe

and the sonar team the best chance to detect the faintest sounds.

You'll see an ever-growing number of people staring

longingly into the sonar screen.

It's all about everybody being ready, lots of coiled springs.

We need to react.

Just do a left-to-right.

Contact.

Joe can hear something moving.

It's below the surface, 12 km away.

Yeah.

It's exactly the kind of sound he's been trained to

expect from a Russian submarine...

Port side contact. Port side contact.

...and it's coming nearer.

All eyes are on Joe to make the right call.

ALARM SOUNDS

Fire, fire, fire, fire! Fire, fire, fire, fire!

Go, go, go!

Start getting the firefighting equipment!

A fire alarm's been triggered in the engine room,

close to the submarine's nuclear reactor compartment.

Fire, fire, fire!

I need some help over here!

A fire in this area threatens the entire submarine.

The fire is out, roger!

Now the crew must find out what damage has been done.

We suffered a fire on the motor.

We'll have to see if it's damage that can be repaired on board.

Or whether it's something that's in a position where we can't

really do this at sea, and we'll be required to go back alongside.

The engineers are worried about what they're seeing.

The damage to the engine means steam heated to over 200 degrees

is now leaking into the submarine.

Right.

So, just, again, talk me through.

Are you still concerned?

Mm-hm.

48 hours minimum to get it repaired,

to get it cooled down and repaired.

We need to ask the captain to make that call.

The risk now is that the engines could fail altogether.

But switching them off for repairs can only be done in port.

OK, sir, this is the brief from the action HODs we've just had.

Yeah. So, it is too hot back there,

and it is only going to get worse from where it is right now. Yeah.

Our recommendation out of this, then, sir,

is we can't do nothing.

So we need to fix it. Yeah.

OK. OK, sir.

Uh...

OK, sir. All right. Thanks, boys.

The captain needs to decide if he can risk keeping Trenchant sailing,

or if the hunt for the Russian submarine must be abandoned.

This is the worst possible scenario

at possibly the worst time.

My job is making the right decisions,

and this is the most difficult decision I've had to make.

The fire has clear implications,

and we are now looking at a complete loss of propulsion.

And then we're sat at night in the middle of the ocean.

Good afternoon, Trenchant. Captain speaking.

As a result of the fire that we suffered in the engine room,

we have exceeded my own risk calculus

for our ability to remain at sea.

I now deem it to be the right and proper thing to take the submarine

alongside to conduct deverification.

That's all.

With the safety of the crew in question,

the captain must now hand Trident over to the protection

of another Navy vessel.

Nobody, as you look around the boat - least of all me -

wants to go back alongside.

The period alongside is going to be frustrating.

We're going to have to do everything we can to try

and maintain momentum to minimise the impact of this unwelcome delay.

Poisonous gas begins to fill the boat.

A Russian attack submarine enters British waters.

And Trenchant gets a new captain.

Take control of the situation,

or I will do it.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media