Original subtitles

Warships of the ultimate symbol of a nation's military might.

These things are monstrous.

One does of technology.

Enormous vessels crewed by thousands bristling

with massive guns and powerful aircraft.

They can deliver tariff buying destruction turn the tide of history.

With sheffield built to win the war.

There was no other reason.

From the beginning of the twentieth century

to the present day.

These stories of classic warships.

From dreadnoughts to baseball.

Japan's months to see warrior yammer to.

The American super ships Wisconsin

Lexington and enterprise

to today's cutting edge royal Navy carry is.

These are the world's greatest warships.

Halfway through world war one.

Over two hundred warships clashed in the air is defining naval battle.

Battle

of chocolate.

Over twenty five ships and thousands of men was sent to the bottom.

Loss was a shock

but there was also success.

On both sides a new type of ship

dished out massive damage and taken many huge hits.

Yet remained a float.

Able to return to base for repair

these were the war machines that spot the arms race that changed the world.

It was a menacing dangerous looking ship.

And everybody wanted.

These

with the dreadnoughts.

But they only came about because of a book.

In eighteen ninety an American naval officer called Alfred thayer mohan published a

detailed study of British naval strategy.

My hands book on the influence of seat.

On history was a painstaking analysis.

In effect.

Of britain.

Came to be so big.

In the.

Andrew Gordon is a naval history in.

Hands book explain something nobody.

Worried the heads about.

How could it happen this.

Rainy country in the northwest of you.

Had this huge global presence.

In the answer of course.

Will see power.

It had been ninety years since Nelson's decisive victory at trafalgar.

And britain was the most powerful nation

in the world.

It's ceilings policed by a royal Navy that dwarfed its rivals.

Rivals who'd had enough of playing second fiddle.

Britain was looked at by other nations with a mixture of

and the and admiration.

Especially on the German side.

Jan vet teaches early twentieth century German history.

And.

Germany was fully industrialized and was a blooming economy.

Nevertheless at that point of time in.

Military and strategic trump's it was still a continental power.

Germany's ambitious emperor kaiser Wilhelm

the second was a big fan of Manhattan's bulk.

The main argument of Mohamed was

if you want to be.

A world power you'll need a strong maybe.

So this was the ideology

the kaiser embrace to make Germany by this

a world power.

Germany quickly started to build a powerful new fleet to rival the royal Navy that

was becoming increasingly bloated.

On a paper the fleet is unquestionably the mightiest Navy in the world

but if you look closely there were a vast number

of ships that were no longer fit for purpose.

Andrew chung there's one of the curators at the royal museums in greenwich.

The problem was that in any kind of shooting war

while they were perfectly good for imperial policing.

They would struggle to survive

against the

more modern ships that were being deployed by smaller Navy's.

The German build up focus British minds on the need to modernize and in ninety know

for the royal Navy appointed a radical new lead on.

The very colorful admiral Jackie Fisher becomes

the first sea lord

and effectively the royal Navy is his

within certain limits he can stamp his style on it do what he wants with it

and he already has in his mind this concept of the super battleship of the future

this ship embodies to very important elements

one is very very high speed

Fisher was all about having technical superiority

by being able to run rings around the opposition.

The other is superior firepower vastly superior firepower.

Fishes problem was that is concept was based on theories rather than experience.

He needed facts to back up his ideas.

What Jack efficient needed.

Was a was.

Since ninety no three Japan and Russia had been at war on land and sea over who

controlled large parts of southeast Asia.

Defining moment came in nineteen o five with

a naval battle in the straits of to shima.

Interesting thing about tsushima is it's the

first battle to come for an awfully long time.

Q it his head of exhibitions of the national museum of the royal Navy.

You have to go back nearly one hundred years.

Really to find the last big fleet action to anybody

texting you notice of you look at the napoleonic wars.

Battles fought between the ships powered by sale

power made of wood firing muzzle loading cannons.

As school with one hundred years and you've gone

steal battleships rifle guns a revolving tourists.

Powered by steam engines

and nobody has tried this technology out

it's never really been used in action before.

This was a very very mismatch of conflict a

rush Russia was an established European power

and although Japan had modernized to an incredible degree in the last few decades

no one really thought that

an Asian upstart would be able to challenge this European giant.

The experts were wrong.

Japan's Navy had fast modern ships.

Equipped with powerful twelve inch guns.

And royal Navy trained crews.

Russia's was dated and ill prepared.

And during the battle the Japanese ships out maneuvered the Russians.

Guns were more accurate and effective at a greater range.

Results.

Were devastated.

I

Was a total wind patterns the Russian fleet.

Forty nine

to fifty two Russian ships were sunk or captured.

This decisive victory one Japan the wall.

Tsushima is an earthquake

it's an absolute culture shock

to the great powers.

The upstart has one

and the upstart has one because they possess the superior battle fleet.

The message was modernize.

Modernize

or die.

As the twentieth century begun

britain status as the world's greatest see power was under threat.

Navy's fleet was becoming dated.

Germany was building up an ever more ominous collection of warships.

But new naval supremo Jackie Fisher believed he had an

idea that would keep britain's command of the seas intact.

Now Japan's decisive victory at the battle to shima had delivered proof that is

concept for a world beating warship was on the right track.

He wanted a ship with big punch.

It was fast.

And

keep out of the range.

Of enemy gun.

In that she was called.

Treadmill.

Jackie Fisher plan to create the world's first old big gone battleship.

An unprecedented ten twelve inch guns and five tourists

would deliver accurate and deadly fire

over a huge range.

The latest air engines would give smoother more reliable power

allowing her to outpace her rivals and to dictate the battle.

Belt of face hard and Dharma would protect of main control rooms

turrets and magazine.

Completing the formidable package that would make hms dreadnought

the most powerful warship

ever built.

As if that wasn't enough

fish wanted the launch of his new ship

to take his rivals by surprise.

Fisher had set a targets of wanting to ship

completed within a year which was unheard of

battleships when normally completed within two to three years from the laying of the

keel so this was a supreme effort

and he wanted this to be done quietly because he wanted

the ship to have all the more impact when it was finally launched.

Said dreadnought is built on less than a year.

She's in power bill in less than a because.

Fisher takes them.

Clever tricks he prefabricated steel and has a piled upon the dockside side he'll

just as many parts in advance as you can.

And only that impresses the the go button on building the shave.

One of the great problems when you're building a ship in this period is that the guns

and the turrets take almost longer to manufacturer than the ship itself.

Luckily for Fisher

to large battleships were being constructed for the royal Navy at the same time as

dreadnought and that turrets and the gun calibers were exactly what he wanted so.

These for turret the with reallocated to dreadnought

which meant that she could be completed on schedule.

Unveiling of fishes vision for a new era of

British naval supremacy arrived in nineteen o six

when can get with the seventh launched hms dreadnought

Portsmouth naval dockyard.

Predictably

it was an old big gun layouts that impressed witnesses the most.

Shit apparently invincible and capable of one discharged

from the guns of throwing with unparalleled pools.

Twice as much met close any foreign matter war now a float

I'm three times as much as most.

And

neither dreadnought nor any other battleship of her day still exist.

Except wall.

Commission and nineteen forty.

UK s as Texas stands alone as a.

Testament to first world war battleship technology.

Her old big gun layout still fully intact.

She is able to conjure a sense of what operating

of fear some artillery was like.

Andy Smith is the ships manager.

So we're down in the belly the ship about six stories down from the top of the turret

this all mechanism is attached to that turret

and would move with the tour were in the magazine so this is

where the shells or store.

So ultimately the shells are stored in here

they're attached this monorail system brought through here.

They hooked up to this voice in an attached.

Then when it's ready to go up.

Bowl ring this bell.

And in their cranked up all the way to that toured eventually.

So we're inside turret number one.

These are the rifles this is the whole reason why

the battleships club to have these rifles available.

So ultimately you'd have a brown about fifteen hundred pounds

coming all the way from the very bottom of the ship

comes up this elevator.

Right there rolls over then he gets rammed in here

and then you got four more bags for bags of

powder that come up

get put in behind that rammed in.

The strapped themselves and they go ahead with just talking to.

Guns rented fire.

They're strapped up gift wall here out of the way of this freak

wait.

And they pulled the trigger.

This shell

traveling up to twelve miles and then when it hits.

Creating a hole the size of a basketball court.

Of course the awesome power of all those fourteen inch shells was only an advantage

if they hit their targets.

Again Fisher a thought this through.

The idea to use a single caliber main armament solved a problem the

long prevented guns from being used accurately long range.

Before dreadnought.

Ships generally find an array of different calibers at the same target

which meant gunnery offices often struggled to Gauge ranges.

You can't correct.

If you have three different calibers of guns

banging away independently.

Because nobody knows who shall splashes foods.

And that's what was keeping ranges in close.

To increase the effective range of its massive guns.

Hms dreadnought was the first ship with a purpose built fire control platform.

This area is the lookout and more importantly the fire control position so the

gunnery officer would be based up here

directing the fire of the entire main armament of the shit this was a very very new

system for the royal Navy they were still evolving

this when dreadnought was built and commissioned.

Organizing the guns to file.

One month.

Gunnery officer in the spotting.

Who is observing the full.

Of shot.

And is pressing the button to find silva is.

An SUV get a group

of shells landing together.

And you can tell if you'll the

gunnery officer in the for top.

If the shells and landing short.

Or over

and you can correct.

Ram home their advantage.

These powerful and now accurate guns needed

to be brought to bear on their targets quickly

and from the best angles.

This meant dreadnought needed to be faster than

all of her rivals.

Until now all large warships had used huge triple expansion steam engines

with massive pistons driving crankshafts.

But pushing these hard cause damage in vibrations.

Once again Jackie Fisher opted for the cutting edge

technology.

Steam turbine engines.

Putting turbines into a large untested battleship was a very very brave move.

The technology had been proven but not as not in a ship of this scale.

Turbines are quieter.

That faster than more efficient.

They are less prone to breakdowns

dreadnought could be run at her maximum speed of almost twenty knots for

stained periods

and what this meant in practice was that she

could outrun any pre dreadnought in existence.

To tied together the advantages of high speed and devastating firepower.

Hms dreadnought was also equipped with the very

latest technology and that electrical power systems.

Similar to one still on us as Texas today.

So this is your power distribution for the whole ship

this is as much a cutting edge technology has those big girls

is that big armor we have

as those turbine engines that are

are are pushing these dreadnoughts.

This is the cutting edge.

She think about the average sailor that came aboard he probably didn't have

electricity and is home and now he's coming aboard and everything's lit

with fans and blowers mean people would

die in the ships they get so hot.

You need air movement you need light

all those little things that make it all work those hoist

to get the the shells up to the

top of the turret

they're running off electricity where's that

electricity coming from it's coming from and here

and so to all of these switches are basically

turning off and on power to various parts

of the ship and redirecting it where needed.

You imagine if a

part of the ship is underwater is being flooded because it was hit.

You don't want electricity running through that so they

would shut the power down to that part of the the ship

redirect it somewhere else

so you're dealing with high high voltage

there's a lot of power coursing through here.

It wouldn't.

It wouldn't come as a surprise if

when you did this there'll be a little pushback

these guys down here will probably some of the bravest guys on board the ship

this was not a.

This is not for the faint of heart for sure.

Really big shock had been caused by hms dreadnought herself.

No ship had ever combined size speed power and Alma

such a fearsome machine.

Dread not something that fears nothing

it can project power it can secure sea lanes

it can defend a coast

it can attack and coast it can dominate the seas.

Hm is dreadnought is a real gains change.

The old vessels the old pre-draft not

as they're called now battleships.

Are simply outclassed.

The creation of page miss dreadnought was a great triumph

Fisher but he also had created an enormous problem for himself and for the royal Navy.

It made everyone has a battleship and world

obsolete.

Including all of britain's.

Fisheries essentially pressing the reset button

on the global arms race.

The German admiralty simply saw itself forced.

To build vessels like agent has dragged on.

It was the arms race like we saw post-world war two between

the Soviet union the u s in the fifties it was nukes

in the teens it was dreadnoughts.

The u s France and Japan all set about making diversions of hms dreadnought.

But it was Germany's response the worried the royal Navy.

Took the Germans a couple of years but they succeeded in quickly

designing and launching their own dreadnoughts.

Author Mark steel specializes in the battleships of the twentieth century

the German ships were a bit different than the British designs

because they emphasize protection.

At the expense of firepower.

So they were not as heavily armed as much British ships were of the day.

By nineteen eleven

the Germans of producing designs that match britain in quality

and in the years after that if anything some

of that designs of beginning to pull ahead.

By nineteen forty.

Germany a truly come of age as a warship builder.

Perhaps the best example was the current class battleship.

For were built.

Including sms koenig herself.

So we looking here

at a magnificent plum of the cooney class

it's very well designed in regard of.

Protection.

So you see here a heavy.

Deck amo

you see here a massive side Alma.

You see here

the double bottom in case of a minute there is a great chance.

That the vessel will only be lightly damaged

and you see a huge number of bulk hats.

Which invites the vessel in watertight compartments

you see also the the number of guns listed

to ten a three point five or twelve inch main guns in five turrets

fourteen fifteen centimeter guns

also ten ain't point eight centimeters guns

full fighting of torpedo boats

there were quick firing or quick loading guns of course

five torpedo tubes on the water was on in the bow

and for

on the broadsides so yeah she was really.

A vessel to re reckoned with in battle.

Germany's Navy grew.

The likelihood of was named ever-larger.

Formidable new ships such as koenig were intended to present

an acceptable risk to britain's interests.

The only dad wants to be powerful enough.

To cause the royal Navy.

Sufficient casualties

that even if the German fleet last

British positions.

Would be vulnerable.

To other pounds

therefore the royal Navy

would not want to challenge.

The German fleet for them reason.

It would stop written declaring war on Germany.

But didn't.

Nineteen o six hms dreadnought at five the starting

pistol on the old big gun battleship hobbs race.

Britain France the united states Russia Japan and Germany that all battle fiercely to

build the biggest baddest gunship the world had ever see.

Nineteen fourteen so fast was the pace of change that the original hms dreadnought

was all already passed her sell by date.

Always find it quite amusing that we we'd look at

technological development now we get excited to visit a new smartphone comes out

batch late in that eight year period

these things changed beyond recognition

to the point where each miss dreadnought

is obsolete by the started the first world war

and hms dreadnought may have been relegated to minor fleet duties.

But so indelible was her legacy the all big battleships became known as dreadnoughts.

With excellent dreadnoughts like the koenig

Germany had caught up with britain and quality but the

one thing they wouldn't never able to match was quantity.

Britain has the advantage.

If you compare for example with with Germany Germany is also trying to build the

world's largest army at the same time

and they simply cannot keep up.

The British who are

eighty one hundred percent focused on naval building.

That building these things most of the rate of.

Class of for every he gets loaded and laid down.

And getting progressively bigger and bigger.

In britain the Navy was the senior service.

While in Germany

although she had this

ambition to become a whirlpool still was continental opponent

so she needed a strong army

and so the bulk

of the money's spent for military.

Was spent for the on me.

And at this also kind of hindered of cause a massive built up

off the fleet.

In August nineteen forty.

Powerful German army invaded Belgium

the British ally.

Triggering world war one.

When war breaks out in the arms race is brought to

a sudden halt

the British have twenty two dreadnoughts in commission

the German Navy is somewhat behind with thirteen and to add to this and the British

have nine battle cruisers in commission to Germany's for

so it looks like a substantial lead in the royal

Navy's favor at the beginning of world war one.

From day one of the war

the sheer number of their ships met the royal Navy

had the upper hand on Germany's high seas fleet.

The speed of modern warships meant that the main

grand fleet could lie secure and scapa flow.

It's new base in Scotland.

With smaller fleets based in recife

courage and on the south coast.

Britain I've had a very effective blockade on

Germany's small section of the north sea coast.

The proud new ships are the kaiser's fleet

struggled to operate beyond their own local waters.

It's probably fair to say that at the start of the first world war the German high

seas fleet did not know what to do.

They're planning had been based on an idea that the royal Navy would follow its

traditional lacrosse aggressive approach and come stay impeding into the southern

north sea to take on take them on

and annihilate them in in in a sort of trafalgar to.

Both sides of waiting for this apocalyptic confrontation between the two fleets.

And much to everyone's frustration this

doesn't happen the British didn't come.

So there was thirty size of battle in the north sea.

Asked the Germans had expected.

Sill they had to build up from scratch.

A new strategic approach.

So to break the deadlock and the Germans formulate a plan whereby they will try and

entice a portion of the grand fleet out to engage them

and hopefully trap and sink this detached portion

with the entirety of the high seas fleet strength

once they have done this to the royal Navy enough times

they'll but then be able to meet it an equal

or superior terms and when a decisive victory.

On may thirty first nineteen sixteen

that exact problem was underway as bowl new German commander admiral sheer prepared

to ambush a small fleet of royal Navy warships.

This scouting fleet engaged a British battle cruiser squadron.

What like dreadnought battleships.

Battle cruisers were lightly armoured for greater speed.

Initially the German if it goes according to plan the to battle cruiser forces meet.

And catastrophically to British better crisis blow up.

In sync.

I.

This is mainly because of the way in which they're

storing and using ammunition on board the shapes.

On the to battle cruisers.

With two thousand three hundred and eighty five sailors.

Only twenty survived.

It was around one to approach sheer.

She and are chase the small British fleet towards the coast of jutland.

Where the rest of his high seas fleet

in wait.

Ready to pounce.

What he didn't know was the also lying in wait.

Was the entire British grand fleet.

In command was admiral jellicoe aboard his flagship hms

iron Duke.

Bang up to date battleships so advanced from the original hms dreadnought

does she was known.

As a super dreadnought.

Andrew chung as an original as completed plan of this powerful vessel.

If lay these plans of h m s iron Duke over the ones of h m s dreadnought

it allows us to see the huge changes that have taken place this ship was built

a mere seven or eight years after dreadnought.

General improvements resulted in ships that were larger faster luck more powerful

this ship is a quantum leap above it's near ancestor.

The differences necessitated a much larger whole to accommodate all the improvements.

So again the most noticeable thing about this ship is the primary armament the

powerful main battery of thirteen point five inch guns

larger than the those mounted a

dreadnought

but most importantly

gonna the winged turrets which we saw and dreadnought everything.

Is on a center line which means that when this ship engages in enemy vessel

she can bring her entire armament to bath.

The key improvements to iron Duke

to her firepower.

Eight of her thirteen point five inch guns when are set in super firing paz meaning

for barrels come out a directly for or off.

Middle Tory it was never are censored

able to aim across both flanks.

Secondary armament was beefed up

with six inch guns on each flight

posts small away happens to guard against the threat of face boat torpedo attack.

Faster and smarter

the super dreadnoughts were built to rule the waves of the north safe.

In the churning sees of jutland.

I into played sixteen or the super dreadnoughts to

create admiral telcos formidable British battle line.

The German battle line

led by koenig was now unwittingly steaming straight towards them.

Perfectly positioned

jellicoe gave the order to engage.

I enjoy took aim at koenig

and on the least a salvo of nine thirteen point five a shelves.

Next few minutes koenig was hit by seven of inject shells.

Or the ship scored hits as well.

She received ten heavy five to six like to hits.

With forty five of a crew debt

and

another twenty seven wounded

but she still was a float.

I In juke leads the attack on the German lines twice more that evening.

Gunners hitting koenig again and sinking a destroyer.

Great loss on both sides.

Admiral share it.

Comes to the conclusion that this is not the sort

of battle he wanted he didn't want an epic showdown.

At his only thought is to disengage and get his

fleet back to safety because a number of his ships a battered by now and.

That combat effectiveness has been reduced so he needs

to get them home he needs to get them home intact.

So the German fleet.

Mostly gone.

And got home before left.

Because it happened close to Denver.

And the German fleet claimed

to have been victorious.

One German newspaper even quoted the kaiser is

saying the midst of trafalgar has been broken.

We've ended the blockade a Germany is achieved its

subjective on the says we hold the trident now not britain.

It was a plane that initially made sense.

Only two major German ships have been sunk

and that death toll was two thousand five hundred and fifty one man.

The British had come off far worse.

Over six thousand the.

Said perished.

Six major ships sunk.

As the grand fleet struggled home the trauma of it all sank kid.

But Stevens was the stoker on board hms Chester.

When we come back come out to crack we

a passion for terribly passionate about.

When we got about.

One hundred miles from grimsby.

Captain

and says.

I'm going to stop the shape.

Said.

Or have to type of shows.

A completely.

In are too bad.

Knee stopped the ship.

How military do with a

very diverse sponge was aside say.

That mean canvas and.

Would Tommy shelling.

Over to show it.

Or forget how many repair couldn't decide.

Know

to terrible say.

The royal Navy had suffered.

A once the smoke cleared

the claims of a German victory run hollow.

Johnson was.

What was.

What was known as.

A fleet in being.

Victory.

For the British

strategically the battle change nothing.

The British black cable still in effect

and the German battle fleet was in no shape to go to see

for a number of weeks.

It was a defeat.

Because finally was proven.

That the high seas split.

Could not.

And the war.

In favor of Germany.

There was one clear winner of this great battle.

It was the dreadnoughts themselves.

The interesting thing about challenges it shows the the power of the defensive

technology has been introduced with the

treadmill and then to see the dreadnought battleship.

The British news three battle cruisers the Germans lose an elderly pretty treadmill

battleship and battle battle cruiser

not one dreadnought battleship he sunk.

And think this.

Proves the quality of

shipbuilding of ship construction.

Of these drac not class vessels on both sides.

They really were a formidable ships.

Jackie fishes vision of super warships at demonstrated that all some power.

But their influence on sea power was perhaps not

quite what it foresee.

Is dreadnoughts have been able to destroy

everything in that gun sights accept each other.

The official would have been happy that the outcome favorite brit.

In the aftermath of jutland.

The German surface Navy was again called find support.

A month after jutland that

sheer rights a confidential report to the kaiser

in which he admits as such he says that.

One of the lessons we've learned from this battle is that we cannot

defeat the royal Navy it see.

In a mahogany and sense we cannot annihilate

that battle fleet that's beyond our capability

we have to think of something else.

From now on

German submarines attacked commerce shipping in the Atlantic.

The tactic that eventually brought the usa into the wall.

Increase the allies strength

helped end the war itself the piece was fragile

and the remained one massively powerful weapon

that needed to be handled very carefully

the German dreadnought the fleet.

The British don't fear the remains of the German Navy the biggest British fear.

Is that smaller nations

will make a play for those battleships and increase their own Navy's as a consequence

and in particular they worried about France and Italy both of whom have said that

they want some of these German treadmills

so pretty much the top of the shopping list for the British is to have the German

name he handed over and and turned

the German fleet was disarmed.

The breaches of the gun will left and for them.

So together with the ammunition.

So there were absolutely defenseless.

They had only a minimum of coal only a skeleton crew on board and then.

Steamed over the north sea to scapa flow

to be in turned the.

Koenig was the final German battleship to enter the Scottish naval base.

Here this once mighty fleet awaited it's fate.

But a secret plan met the Germans would take back control of that dreadnoughts.

In nineteen sixteen most of britain's fleet a super dreadnoughts at fort Germany's in

the defining naval battle of the war.

Hundred and one but more importantly

proved they couldn't be beaten.

This played a key role in Germany's eventual defeat.

Seven months after the war the victorious allies

met a verse sides decide how to punish Germany

on what to do with her vanquished but still awesomely powerful fleet of dreadnoughts.

Now could in scapa flow

on the royal Navy god god.

Summer nineteen nineteen Aruba spreads through the

gym fleet that the war was going to start again.

And they're sitting there in the main British base

with no ammunition on the ships and virtually no Cruz.

That the one thing that they can choose to do

to make that gesture

that is still part of the wool

is to scuttle their own ships and that's exactly what they do.

On the twenty first of June nineteen nineteen.

Almost the entire British Godfrey left scapa flow on exercises.

The German commander secret plan.

Was put into action.

My prearranged signal they opened the see cooks.

And the whole fleet.

Started to sing.

That was the way the Germans could salvage.

An element of of self esteem.

Of.

That predicament.

Was to

none of these ships

to the airlines.

Four hundred thousand tons of finest John Steele.

Going down.

Main royal Navy Godfrey rushed back to scupper

as the ship's slipped under the waters.

Claude choules was on board hms revenge.

We're

rushing into scapa flow

we could see the German ship some of them.

A junk and others were going over the sinking.

Ships good all over the place

and.

We said the that crushed for that

we've been up your nearly six months waiting for our service leave.

Now will go there are no and get our services.

The bastard to gone.

The sinking of one of the world's most powerful dreadnought fleets

was and remains the greatest loss of ships in one day.

At.

One hundred years on from that midsummer's day moving commemorations have been taking

place in orkney to Mark the events.

This has been one of the most unusual memorial events

marking was thought to be the only occasion in history.

In which a Navy destroyed its own fleet

and a little over three hours.

When was there.

On innocent scenery of the skeptical of the high seas fleet.

I felt.

Grief

regret.

About the waste of so many fine ships and also.

So many fine man

in a war that certainly was one of the.

Mo.

Useless morse.

In European history.

About only had world war one been a tragic waste of human life the dreadnought arms

race had also been cripplingly expensive for all countries involved.

That didn't stop the rush to build more of.

Dreadnought back and ships are still the currency

by wage nations measure their power and prestige.

They all the nuclear weapons of that day

they determined the most important nations.

Smaller nations are desperate to build one or two treadmills

just to show that they can have a say to the top table.

Washington naval treaty of nineteen twenty one to nineteen

twenty two between britain France Italy america and Japan.

Greatly reduced the size and number of battleships built in the coming years.

Many famous dreadnoughts were also scrapped.

Hms dreadnought.

The ship whose name it become a byword for the ultimate battleship

had been unceremoniously scrapped a year later.

But iron Duke survived.

Staying in service another twenty years.

However there was one dreadnought.

Whose story had only just begun.

I think Texas is the world's greatest worship

now because she fought in the most battles but because

she symbolizes a lot of what naval warfare is about

Texas is here she's still a touchstone for that history

and she's deal with capital ship left

there was involved in two world wars.

That scene difficult.

Following the war.

Texas was modernized with radio communication equipment.

Radar.

Anti aircraft defenses.

She even had our own seaplanes.

When world war two broke out

Texas was still fighting fit and thrown into the fray.

She protected north Atlantic convoys from u-boats.

Supported north African landings before being called

up to help out on June six nineteen forty four.

At de de deus ex she's right off the coast majority

provide that gunfire support

later on June twenty fifth.

The allies were taking cherbourg the port town

that they need to do and she was right off.

Of the sure they're providing go far sport and

basically occupied those big two hundred and forty millimeter German guns

so they were at a dual she

bracketed over sixty times

and hit twice

one of those shells came in right above us

in exploded it took out the bridge above us

injured a couple of gentlemen in here.

But

you can see this armors up to twelve inches thick hair

and so she could take her out she still able to.

Be effective.

Still greatly feared and so she was basically decoys and

and provide that support in a distraction

while the army was moving in and taken over the point.

With the north coast of France secure.

Texas was sent to the pacific where she supported the American troops in the bitter

fighting on the your jima and okinawa in the dying days of world war two.

And.

Even then Texas' war was and over.

The los Angeles.

Through the way to.

But their own.

The battleships Texas Nevada.

Boat veterans of two wars

and five invade.

Perhaps the highest native her career she did

what the u s referred to as magic carpet rides.

She brought home over forty two hundred

soldiers sailors marines.

So she went out in a high style.

Or the loved ones who had waited

nothing can compare with.

UK s as Texas had survived.

Great battle fleets of dreadnoughts would never be seen again.

Next time the aircraft carrier.

That audacious hybrid of flying and sailing that changed want to see was waged.

These giants have become the most fearsome conventional weapons

ever built.

The truest measure.

Of a nation's naval strike.

Scaling down the drama

a great model railway challenge with miniature minutes to pcs then you see

starts the frame it eight.

That

see next Nixon late where it's action stations of

the hm mr Duncan

as they come face-to-face with Russian forces in worship.

Under attack.