All language subtitles for War Gamers s01e04 The Game.eng

(torpedo exploding)

Britain is at the mercy of Donitz's U-boats.

The Royal Navy pin their
hopes on a tactic to fight back.

Bow to cover stern!

(boats clanking)

Good.

At least one U-boat down.

Proof they attack from outside the convoy.

But wargamer Gilbert Roberts-

Is something wrong?

And the team of Wrens discover

it doesn't make sense.

The Royal Navy are relying
on luck to protect the convoys.

Mein Fuhrer, we are strangling
the life out of Britain.

I can strike a decisive
blow, but I need more U-boats.

Donitz floods the Atlantic

with monster wolf packs.

Fire!

(torpedoes whooshing)

Imagine the carnage we will sow.

(dramatic music)

(torpedoes exploding)

Some people look out at
the ocean and see tranquility.

It's not tranquil.

It will devour you.

Roberts is in a race against time

to decipher the U-boat tactics.

(mine exploding)

U-boat destroyed.

It works.

Run the game again.

We need to be sure.

And convince the top brass to change their ways.

Why am I here, Commander?

We can't keep losing men and convoys

to the sea and Donitz.

We have to make the admiral listen.

Their survival and ours depends on it.

(radio beeping SOS)

Gilbert Roberts and the WATU team

have worked deep into the night.

All this time, the Royal Navy has assumed

that the U-boats are firing the torpedoes

from outside the convoy, into the center of it.

By analyzing the use
of Walkers' Buttercup tactic,

they've discovered that the U-boats are already

inside the convoy when they're
making their initial attack.

If everything that the Royal Navy has assumed

about the way U-boats attack is wrong,

this means their defense strategy is wrong.

The SS Hannover was hit
in the center of the convoy.

The U-boats must be attacking from the inside.

But how is Donitz getting them there?

We need to think like a U-boat captain.

How would you get in?

Commander Walker did sink a U-boat at the rear.

Could they sneak in submerged from astern?

Convoy travels at roughly seven knots.

Submerged, the U-boat has
to rely on its electric motors

and they're slow, they can only do-

Eight knots.

So unlikely one could catch and enter a convoy

and not be pinged by ASDIC.

How about from the front?

It could enter from ahead submerged.

But coming straight at the convoy?

There's a big risk of a collision.

On the surface, a U-boat
can use its diesel motors.

A type 7C can run at 70 knots.

It's much faster than the convoy.

It's more like a motor torpedo boat.

So they could be infiltrating
the convoy from behind,

and on the surface.

They're fast enough.

And the lookouts rarely look behind them.

If they came in at night, they wouldn't be seen.

It's daring, ruthless.

I wouldn't put it past him.

Walker did sink a U-boat astern

traveling the same course as the convoy.

Could it have been caught
trying to go into the convoy?

Sneaking in on the surface.

That's it.

It must be.

What is it?

Once inside, they torpedo a ship, many ships.

Now every destroyer is looking for them.

So then how does the actual attacker get out?

(Roberts sighing)

We've been at this a while.

Let's break and come back with fresh eyes.

(gentle orchestral music)

How are the sandwiches?

Could do with some more corned beef.

How's the coffee?

Could do with some more coffee.

Rushling, I guess.

I just wish I could see how the U-boats escape.

Even if you could, do you
think the admirals will listen?

What do you think, sir?

Will the top brass even listen to us.

Sir?

Sorry, major.

I was in a world of my own.

You're very quiet, sir.

Yes, I'm quiet.

Sorry.

I seem to have a lot on my...

Quiet.

Could that be it?

Quiet.

Finish up.

We need to get back to the boat.

The U-boat launches its
attack, but after it fires,

it needs to escape.

Where does it go?

The escorts are firing flares.

Sea is lit up.

The U-boat is surrounded by convoy ships.

Any one of those could
spot it and raise the alarm.

The logical thing to do is dive.

Gone.

How deep can they go?

A type 7C, 720 feet.

On the edge of effective ASDIC range.

Then they stop, they go quiet,

and they wait for the convoy to pass over them.

Once the convoy moves on, they surface again.

What if the escorts are away from the convoy?

Yes, the U-boat can surface safely

because thanks to Walker's Buttercup tactic,

the escorts search away from the convoy

and then continue moving with it.

They're looking in the wrong place.

Walker must have hit a U-boat

trying to get into the convoy.

That's why Buttercup can't be easily repeated.

This is an incredible breakthrough.

The Royal Navy assumes that the U-boats attack

from outside the convoys,

and they can't see past this assumption.

But the fact that these Wrens

weren't Navy indoctrinated
people meant that they were able

to take the bare minimum facts, strategize it,

work out the tactics,

and put themselves in the mind of the enemy.

We need to run the game.

(ominous music)

(radio beeping Morse code)

Admiral Karl Donitz's tonnage war is working.

Herr Admiral, a report from U504

operating in the Straits of Florida.

"Single large ships at
night within 200 meter line.

"Moderate destroyer and
air patrols since first attack.

"Good chances for attack,
but strong patrolling in DB9790."

They've sunk three ships
already, two of them tankers.

(suspenseful music)

Send a reply to U-128, 129 and 504.

Occupy attack square
DB90, the Straits of Florida.

Yes, Herr Admiral.

What is our monthly tonnage tally?

Herr Admiral, 70 ships
sunk for over 392,000 tons.

Excellent!

If the fleet keeps sinking this many tons,

the Fuhrer will have no choice

but to give me my 300 U-boats.

The U.S. Navy weren't
anticipating or prepared for

the onslaught of U-boats
against their own coastline.

So in early 1942, they
really did not have the escorts

to protect the ships.

The U-boat crews certainly were surprised.

Perfect targets with no sign
of defense or escorts around.

As soon as Donitz noticed that it was so easy

to sink vessels, he sent more and more U-boats.

February of 1942, the number of sinkings

and the total amount of
tonnage destroyed skyrocketed.

If the ships could not get through,

Britain could not feed itself.

So literally it could be starved to death.

Imagine the carnage we will sow.

(torpedoes exploding)

Ready?

Let's begin.

When you are wargaming,

if you've identified the enemy's intent

and the approach they will
use, that is absolutely decisive.

But the question is how are you going to use it

and turn the tables so that the hunters

now become the hunted?

Roberts and Laidlaw are now setting up the game,

and Roberts is gonna play the U-boat commander.

Merchant ship torpedoed,
fifth column, third ship.

Time in: 0210 hours.

Next move in two minutes.

And Laidlaw's gonna play the escort commander

responsible for finding and sinking the U-boats.

Around the game room are screens of canvas

with a slit cut through
the middle and a lens inserted.

The U-boat movements are marked in brown chalk

on the brown linoleum,
which makes it very difficult

for the escort commanders
to see their patterns of movement.

You'd only see the white chalk of the movements

of the convoy and the escorts.

U-boat undetected.

U-boat escaped.

Game over.

Let's run the game again.

Merchant ship torpedoed,
fifth column, third ship,

time in 0232 hours.

Next move in two minutes.

What's interesting about
wargaming is you want to win,

so you start reaching for different things

that you might not otherwise have considered.

Buttercup means that the
escort ships sweep outward

in a sort of fan-like position.

Laidlaw comes up with the idea that if the U-boat

is hanging back to the rear and has submerged,

she needs to use her escorts in a different way:

looking backwards.

Next move, two minutes.

So as the convoy moves forward,

she has the escorts open up with ASDIC sonar

to look all over the back

in this sort of triangular fashion.

ASDIC ping on 130.

Likely U-boat contact.

Eventually, they're gonna pass over it.

And when they do, they'll detect it,

and then they can send depth
charges down and destroy it.

U-boat depth charged, U-boat destroyed.

U-boat destroyed?

How?

(chair clattering)

The escorts fall to the
back, conduct triangular sweeps.

The retreating U-boat is caught up in them.

Headlock.

Triangular sweeps.

It works.

Run the game again; we need to be sure.

So they play the game again and again.

(intense music)

The escorts at the rear
of the convoy are using ASDIC

almost like dragging a
fishing net through the water.

The U-boat is going to be caught up in this.

They will discover it, and
they will be able to destroy it.

U-boat depth charged, U-boat destroyed.

As dawn comes, Roberts and Laidlaw

are completely convinced now

that their tactic can't be faulted.

Sir?

Our cars are here.

Thank you for your work tonight.

Get some rest.

Yes, sir.

You too.

(phone ringing tone)

Western Approaches, command duty officer.

This is Commander Roberts

of the Western Approaches Tactical Unit.

Can you take a message for Admiral Noble?

Yes, sir.

WATU has discovered something of vital importance

to U-boat tactics and countertactics.

Request his attendance here
as soon as possible to explain.

Yes, sir.

Is that all?

Yes, that is all.

Thank you.

Will Admiral Noble listen, sir?

Have you ever seen a man drowned Laidlaw?

I have.

I was 23.

He was caught in a current
and I dived in after him.

By the time I got there, it was too late.

He was dead and I had to be fished out myself.

I'll never forget the look on his face, frozen,

with all the life gone from him.

Some people look out at
the ocean and see tranquility.

It's not tranquil.

It will devour you.

We can't keep losing men and
convoys to the sea and Donitz.

We have to make the admiral listen.

Their survival, and ours, depends on it.

Donitz's U-boat fleet is wreaking havoc,

particularly against poorly-
protected American shipping.

The Americans, at one point,
actually had 50 destroyers

operating on the transatlantic convoys.

The problem in early '42 is
that most of those 50 destroyers

the Americans have in the Northwest Atlantic

have gone off to fight the Japanese.

The great success of the German U-boats

off the U.S. east coast wasn't
due to the lack of convoys,

the lack of escorts.

Tube one, fire.

(torpedo whirring)

(ominous music)

(torpedo exploding)

Simply the failures of the U.S. Navy

to effectively protect their merchant shipping.

The losses to Allied shipping in the first six,

maybe seven months of 1942, are staggering.

(torpedoes exploding)

2 million tons are lost.

We're talking about 111 ships sunk in May,

and about 115 ships sunk in June.

It's an unbelievable tragedy for the Allies,

and an enormous success for the Germans.

(haunting music)

Mein Fuhrer, in the Mediterranean Sea

and the North Atlantic shipping lanes to Britain,

and up and down the east coast of America,

our U-boats are sinking ship after ship.

We are strangling the life out of Britain.

Here, our monthly tonnage tallies.

They rise and rise.

It really is the Second Happy
Time, as you U-boat men say.

Indeed, Mein Fuhrer, but there is a risk.

Now that the Americans are
also enemies of the Third Reich,

they may try to land an army in Europe.

Now to do that, they will
need to move men and equipment

across the Atlantic.

It takes 32,000 tons of shipping
to move one U.S. division.

But I can strike a decisive
blow so that doesn't happen.

But I need more U-boats.

Steel is scarce.

This is a question of winning the war.

For Hitler, success was the currency

for his value of his leading officers.

These successes made Donitz a very valuable asset

in Hitler's mind.

You can have your 300 U-boats, Donitz,

but you must close down the Atlantic.

(intense music)

Once Roberts and Laidlaw have worked out

what they think the U-boat strategy is

and how they're going to combat it,

they've got to convince the top brass.

We've already seen how
skeptical Noble is of Roberts.

He's always been skeptical of the wargaming.

It's imperative that they get Sir Percy Noble

to listen to them because ships are being sunk.

Human beings' lives are being lost at sea.

Commander Roberts.

Good morning, sir.

Thank you for coming at such short notice.

Why am I here, Commander?

Sir, we've discovered
something of vital importance

to U-boat tactics and countertactics.

Yes, I read your message to my office.

Sir, we've simulated convoy
HG76 using the wargame.

Ah yes, the wargame.

Yes, sir, the wargame.

Okell, would you?

By simulating this report,

we've discovered that the
U-boats get inside the convoy

and do so at night, and on
the surface where they're faster.

Here, they launch their torpedoes,

and after the attack, dive.

Now they go quiet and wait.

As the convoy continues to steam on ahead,

they surface, well astern and out of danger.

In the standard anti-submarine tactic Buttercup,

the escorts search away
from the convoy, outwards.

But they're looking for the U-boats

in entirely the wrong position.

Roberts, everyone knows that the U-boats fire

from outside the convoy in.

Sir, with respect, I reached this conclusion

after consulting Admiral
Horton at Flag Office Submarines.

Max Horton is the leading
submariner in Great Britain.

If anyone understands the thinking of the enemy,

it's Max Horton.

Proceed.

Laidlaw, Okell.

Sir.

Perhaps if we demonstrated it, sir.

Laidlaw is playing the U-boat captain,

and Okell is playing the escort commander.

Laidlaw comes in from the rear on the surface,

fires off her torpedo, dives deep,

and waits for the convoy to pass over.

Ship torpedoed.

Fifth column, third ship.

Time in: 1004.

Next move in two minutes.

Okell does the standard Buttercup tactic.

She instructs her escorts
to scatter outside of the convoy.

But the U-boats aren't
escaping in that direction.

The U-boats are sitting
quietly within the convoy.

U-boat undetected.

U-boat escaped.

Sir, the reason I asked you here so urgently.

Okell, would you now enact
the WATU counter-tactic?

Play again.

(suspenseful music)

(torpedo whirring)

(torpedo exploding)

Ship torpedoed.

What Okell does is, unlike Buttercup,

sends her escorts to the rear

where she expects the
U-boats to be trying to escape.

And it's there that she
conducts her ASDIC sonar sweeps.

(suspenseful music)

ASDIC ping on 90.

Likely U-boat contact.

Next move in two minutes.

Depth charges are fired, and Laidlaw has no time

to get her U-boat out of the way.

Depth charges dropped.

(torpedo booming)

U-boat destroyed.

Game over.

Who devised this tactic?

Wren Jean Laidlaw did all the boring analysis.

It was a question of maths, measurements,

which an accountant could easily make.

And Laidlaw is a qualified accountant.

Well done, Laidlaw.

Thank you, sir.

And do you have a name for it?

Raspberry, sir.

Raspberry?

(Laidlaw blowing raspberry)

As in blowing a raspberry at Hitler, sir.

It dawns immediately on Noble
that Buttercup doesn't work.

He sees that their countermeasure, Raspberry,

is far superior.

Sir Percy Noble all of a sudden realizes

that these wargames might
actually become a crucial element

in the fight against Donitz.

Take down this message.

"The first indications
have shown a cardinal error

"in anti-U-boat tactics.

"There will be a new immediate
and concerted counter-attack

"signaled to the fleet within the next 24 hours."

Send that to the prime minister.

And sew on your fourth stripe Roberts.

You are promoted to captain.

Sir.

Raspberry.

Once a tactic has been developed, the task now

is to train as many officers
in that tactic as possible.

To be used when a U-boat attacks by night.

Star shells are fired,

so the U-boat dives to avoid detection.

Convoy to continue moving.

Flanking escorts to conduct
triangular ASDIC sweeps like so.

Stern escorts to conduct zigzag sweeps.

Like a fishing net, the U-boat will be caught up.

Code word, Operation Raspberry.

(scoffing) Operation Raspberry?

Yes, sir.

Operation Raspberry.

Do you think you've got the hang of it?

Yes?

Good.

You're first up.

The course is about a week.

There will be lectures during the morning.

They'll be briefed on the tactic.

And then in the afternoon they will then have

a training wargame.

Merchant ship torpedoed,
fourth column, second ship.

ASDIC sweep conducted.

No ping.

U-boat escaped.

Play again.

The Naval commanders found themselves

not doing as well as they would've hoped.

ASDIC ping on 102, likely U-boat contact.

Often they were getting
beaten once, twice, three times,

despite extensive experience

in exactly these sort of scenarios.

Depth charges fired, no contact.

U-boat escaped.

Play again.

But eventually as they started to see

how the new tactics could be effective,

they were finally getting the hang of Raspberry.

(charges booming)

Depth charges fired.

U-boat depth charged.

U-boat destroyed.

This is a really promising
sign for the Royal Navy.

Well done, sir.

Play again.

But the real test of Raspberry is gonna be

when it's employed in actual combat.

Convoy SC104 runs the Atlantic gauntlet.

48 merchant vessels and six escort ships

sailing from New York to Liverpool.

(radio beeping)

The man in charge of the escort

is Commander Ralph Heathcote
on the destroyer HMS Fame.

It's abysmal weather, massive waves,

and above that, northern lights.

The merchant vessels are clearly visible

due to the northern lights,

and the escorts had spotted a U-boat before,

but lost contact.

Have we regained contact
with that U-boat to stern?

No, sir.

No smells on ASDIC radar.

Maybe they've pulled back.

This sea is bloody rotten.

But the aurora borealis
is lighting us up for all to see.

We'll be easy to spot.

So will they.

Hmm.

Stay vigilant.

Continue scanning with ASDIC.

(torpedo exploding)

Raspberry!

Sir?

Raspberry, Raspberry, Raspberry!

Raspberry, Raspberry!

(dramatic music)

Dive.

Do it.

Do it.

Any smells on ASDIC?

No sir, no pings.

We must have missed them.

Bastards.

Return to the convoy screen.

Aye, sir.

Heavy weather makes the task of detecting

and hunting a U-boat even harder.

It's very, very difficult under these conditions

to keep a constant contact,
even if you are lucky enough

to detect a U-boat.

The convoy plows ahead.

It must have been rather nerve wracking

for the crews of the surface vessels

because the U-boats had already torpedoed

three merchant ships.

Maybe even more U-boats were gathering.

That next night their worst nightmare came true.

Fire!

Fire.

(stopwatch clicking)

(torpedoes whooshing)

(stopwatch ticking)

10 seconds.

20 seconds.

(torpedoes whooshing)

(suspenseful music)

(explosion booming)

Hit!

(stopwatch clicking)

(ominous music)

Raspberry!

Raspberry, Raspberry, Raspberry!

The escorts turned to the rear

and they start to use the ASDIC sonar

to sweep for the U-boat.

If the U-boat was picked up by the ASDIC,

the crew could actually hear it,

but it was not a ping like
they show it in the movies.

It sound more like a handful of gravel

thrown against the hull
of the U-boat like (whooshing).

(radar grating)

ASDIC.

Shhh.

There's nothing you can do.

You're waiting.

You're counting the pings.

When the pings go quiet,

You don't know whether that means

that the escort has given up,

or that the depth charges are going to follow.

Sir, ASDIC ping.

U-boat detected.

Excellent work, gentleman.

Full speed ahead.

Fire five depth charge pattern on my order.

Fire.

Fire!

(charges popping)

(suspenseful music)

(charge booming)

(charge booming)

(charge booming)

(charge booming)

(charge booming)

(U-boat creaking)

(alarm screeching)

Damage report!

The U-boat is heavily damaged,

and this forces the captain to retreat

back to the home base for repairs.

So in this case, the U-boat is not sunk,

but forced out of action.

Sir, debris detected.

U-boat hit! (laughing)

We got 'em!

Every U-boat that's driven away from a convoy

is a victory.

You don't need to destroy a U-boat.

You need to get the trade through.

That's the objective of the whole operation.

In the battle of SC104,

the escorts damage another
U-boat and sink two more.

It marks an incredible turning point.

Raspberry works.

At U-boat headquarters,
Donitz tallies the losses.

Herr Admiral, eight merchant ships sunk.

But two U-boats destroyed.

Two damaged.

The escorts are doing something differently.

They're more effective.

Perhaps a change in sonar.

Perhaps, Herr Admiral.

Donitz realizes something is going on,

but he doesn't know about
WATU and the new tactics.

He can't imagine that he is
being outplayed at his own game.

(optimistic music)

Soon more U-boats are sunk

using the Raspberry tactic.

The Royal Navy throw their
weight behind the tactical unit.

More and more Wrens are
assigned to Roberts' staff.

Is this seat taken?

No, please sit.

Thanks.

I'm June Duncan.

Janet Okell.

Pleased to meet you.

You're from Liverpool, too.

Lived here all my life.

You?

Me too, except for a couple
years on the Isle of Man.

How long have you been around?

Not long.

This is my first job.

Mine too.

I was rejected by the Wrens twice,

both times for being underweight.

How did you pass the physical?

On the third try my mother had the bright idea

to sew silver ingots into
the hem of my coat. (giggling)

Tipped the scales in my favor.

(Janet laughing)

June Duncan is one of the new recruits

that Roberts gets into his department.

This is Nancy.

Judy.

He ends up with 66 Wrens under his command.

And Roberts will need all the staff he can get.

Now the Royal Navy encourages all officers

to take the WATU course.

5,000 officers go through the Western Approaches

Tactical Unit, or WATU for short.

WATU want the captains
in charge of the escort ships

to have these tactics at the tip of their fingers

so that if a convoy ship is hit,

they know exactly what to do,

and they get rid of that U-boat threat.

Gentlemen, welcome to the Western Approaches

Tactical School.

Make your mistakes here,
and you won't make them at sea.

During WATU's existence,
it develops a number of tactics

to cover a host of situations.

Operation Artichoke.

To be used when a U-boat attacks by day

or by strong moonlight.

The escort astern the convoy immediately proceeds

to the torpedoed ship, scanning with ASDIC.

All other escorts turn
and speed astern the convoy

until 6,000 yards past the stricken ship.

Here, they turn back and
ASDIC sweep behind the convoy

scanning for U-boats.

So, who thinks they can sink a U-boat?

(bright music)

Merchant ship torpedoed,
seventh column, second ship.

Next move in two minutes.

Operation Observant, also
known as the square search,

to be conducted when a U-
boat has been detected by ASDIC,

but lost.

The escort ships conduct a two-mile sweep

in a square shape around
the last-known U-boat location.

If the U-boat tries to escape the square,

ASDIC will detect it, and
the U-boat can be depth charged.

Operation Half-Raspberry, similar to Raspberry,

however, some escorts are held back

at the group commander's
discretion to protect the convoy

whilst the other escorts hunt for U-boats.

Peter Gretton will go down in history

as one of the great hunters of the sea

in terms of his capacity to down U-boats.

He is one of those 5,000 officer commanders

who is encouraged to rethink his game in WATU.

Gretton does say that learning these tactics

make officers who aren't necessarily
altogether very clever

think for the first time in their careers.

No, sir.

I don't think you should do that.

Operation Pineapple, used
when a U-boat is detected

ahead of the convoy.

Escorts at the front and the
flanks speed towards the U-boat

firing star shells for 15 minutes.

The aim is to force the U-boat to dive,

trick it into encirclement
so it can be detected and sunk.

Depth charges dropped, U-boat destroyed.

At the end of each game,

Roberts and the WATU team
would get all of the men together

and assess exactly how the game went.

What they're teaching is vital

if Britain wants to win
the Battle of the Atlantic.

It is the war of the little
ships and the lonely aircraft.

Long, patient, and unpublicized,

against our two great enemies:
the U-boat and the cruel sea.

Your survival, and the survival of Britain,

depends on what you've learned here.

(dramatic music)

For the USA, their merchant shipping losses

have finally become too great.

The German navy has complete license

off the U.S. east coast in 1942.

The Americans have determined

that they're simply not
gonna run system of convoys,

and that creates a safe environment

for the U-boats to operate.

The Germans have this enormous Second Happy Time

where Allied losses are high and U-boat losses

are virtually negligible.

But early plans are made

to send American troops to North Africa

to help the British drive
the German and Italian armies out.

U.S. President Franklin D.
Roosevelt now sets his sights

on the Nazis in Europe.

The problem with that, of course,

it meant transporting a million and a half men

across the Atlantic, and all their supplies,

and all their equipment.

None of this can happen.

No invasion of Europe can take place

unless the Allies win the Battle of the Atlantic.

It's that simple.

They have to suppress the U-boat threat.

The USA begins a massive construction program

to build more escort destroyers.

With these, they finally
adopt the British convoy system,

sailing merchant vessels together

so they can be better protected.

The result for Donitz is costly.

The U-boat tonnage tally off the U.
S. coast plummets.

The improved American defensive measures

spells the end of the Second Happy Time.

But Donitz has a new plan

to make his wolf packs even deadlier.

U-boats operating off the coast

are at risk of being spotted from the air.

When they are,

their position is promptly relayed to the convoy,

taking away our greatest
weapon: the element of surprise.

The U-boat is also forced
to dive, or risk being bombed,

slowing down its progress,

making it harder for wolf packs to assemble.

Some are missing convoys altogether.

But, I have identified a weakness.

Allied aircraft are land-based,

meaning they can only fly so far out to sea

before they have to return
or risk running out of fuel,

which means there is a black hole

in the middle of the Atlantic

where their aircraft can't protect them.

Donitz realizes that the Allies' weak point

is now the mid-ocean, the air gap.

In 1942, the middle of the Atlantic

became the main battlefield for the U-boats.

We will quickly show Britain and America

that the Atlantic trade route is shut.

Despite the early success

of the Western Approaches Tactical Unit,

Churchill is still furious that the Allies

haven't turned the tide
in the Battle of the Atlantic.

In November, 1942, there is a shakeup

at the top of Western Approaches Command,

the center of operations
for North Atlantic convoys.

Percy Noble is pushed sideways.

He goes to the British Admiralty
delegation in Washington.

What they need by November
of 1942 is a bit of a bastard.

And that's what they get with Max Horton.

So Max Horton is a submariner
from the First World War.

Of course, the enemy's beneath
the waves a lot of the time.

He's been tapped on the shoulder by Churchill.

This still ain't good enough.

We still haven't won the Battle of the Atlantic.

Admiral Max Horton wants to know

what all of his staff are doing.

He wants to make sure that everyone

is making their contribution to victory.

Which means one of the
things he wants to understand

is how WATU was operating.

If it isn't contributing, then he will end it.

Once more, they have a fight on their hands

to prove themselves.

The Western Approaches Tactical Unit.

Sir, Captain Roberts.

We spoke on the phone.

Did we?

I don't recall.

And what duty do you think
you perform at my staff?

Director, sir, of the tactical school.

Oh, I see.

Ah yes, the infamous board
where you play your games.

Yes, sir.

Not interrupting one, am I?

Not at all, sir.

I'm glad you could find
the time to come and see us.

What exactly are you doing?

We are wargaming a new tactic, sir.

Beater search, designed to destroy a U-boat

detected on the flanks of the convoy.

Is it effective, your game?

Would you like to play, sir?

As a U-boat captain?

I must warn you, Roberts.

I have some experience fighting
in subs from the first war.

Then you should be fine, sir.

After all you don't need to sink a ship.

All you need to do is survive.

Should be straightforward, sir,

for someone of your experience.

Very well.

Let the game commence.

Sir.

Behind you, sir.

Max Horton plays from behind a screen

opposite where the person
playing the British convoy is.

They can't see each other.

The U-boat player in tactical development wargame

has to have the same limited information

that an escort command gets.

You want the U-boat to react as if it's for real.

It has to be behind the
screen because if he picks up

any additional movements
or detail, he will know too much.

It's vital if you want the U-boat commander

to act like a real U-boat commander.

ASDIC ping; U-boat detected.

Time in, 0934.

Next move in two minutes.

(intense music)

Depth charges dropped.

U-boat destroyed; game over.

What?

Play again.

Okay, potluck; could happen.

And he set it up again.

Very well.

Depth charges dropped.

U-boat destroyed.

Game over.

His U-boat is spotted and sunk.

Play again.

The third game, he also loses.

Play again.

The fourth game, he also loses.

Depth charges dropped.

U-boat destroyed.

He's dead and he's dead.

U-boat depth charged.

U-boat destroyed.

Game over.

Enough is enough!

All right, Roberts, you made your point.

I admit defeat.

Now show me the officer who bested me.

Okell.

Sir, meet Wren rating Janet Okell.

The woman who beat you five/nil.

What?

You rigged it.

No, sir.

Okell was merely following a new tactic

devised after months of
analysis by our own Jean Laidlaw.

You?

Sir, by wargaming every scenario,

we anticipated your moves, deduced your course,

so knew exactly where
to find you and destroy you.

Well, let's hope it works at sea,

because now Donitz has his 300 U-boats

and he'll be hell-bent on using them

to turn the Atlantic into a convoy graveyard.

(intense music)

(plane droning)

ONS5.

It's one of the largest
single convoys ever undertaken.

I want this convoy destroyed.

Message to U-boat headquarters.

Convoy spotted, speed eight to 10 knots

bearing two seven zero.

We have designed these tactics
which will save you time

when you are at sea.

You won't sight it at a range of about two miles.

Seconds that can save life.

Observant, Observant!

Do you ever lose faith in what we're doing here?

We will have to live with our decisions, Roberts.

(explosion booming)

What if we don't prevail out there?

If there's going to be
an unconditional surrender,

it will be theirs, not ours.

(dramatic music)

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