All language subtitles for Drain.the.Oceans.S02E08.1080p.WEB.h264-TBS_track3_[eng]

NARRATOR: The Pacific Ocean,
a tropical paradise,

that in 1941 turns
into a vision of hell.

ERIC: This was the largest
scale maritime war in history.

NARRATOR: Many of this
conflict's most shocking

and inspiring
stories remain untold.

Because for decades,
its iconic shipwrecks,

have been lost under
some of the deepest
waters on the planet.

Imagine if we could
empty the oceans,

letting the water
drain away to reveal the
secrets of the sea floor.

Now we can.

Using accurate data and
astonishing technology.

To bring light once
again to a lost world.

How does the world's biggest
aircraft carrier end up in
pieces on the seabed?

JAMES: The attacks left
the ship a shambles.

NARRATOR: What happened
to the warship that
broke America's heart?

NORMAN: This was
a confused battle.

And all sorts of
terrible things happened.

NARRATOR: And what was the
tragic fate of the ship

that played a key role
in the first atomic bomb?

The Pacific Ocean,
60 million square miles.

The largest mass of
water on the planet.

ROOSEVELT (over radio):
The United States of America

was suddenly and
deliberately attacked.

NARRATOR: After the Japanese
attack on Pearl Harbor,

it's the site of a conflict
that kills 3 million combatants

and destroys 3,000 ships.

ERIC: The Americans
in particular were
tested to extremes

but they proved able
to match the challenge

and eventually
grind Japan down.

ROOSEVELT (over radio):
We will gain the
inevitable triumph.

So help us God.

NARRATOR: Now an
extraordinary mission
is unlocking the secrets

of some of the most important
moments of the Pacific War.

Crammed with state-of-the-art
technology, the Research
Vessel Petrel is on the hunt

for lost warships.

Part of a project funded
by Microsoft co-founder,
the late Paul G Allen,

in honor of his own father's
service in World War II.

Veteran marine explorer,
Rob Kraft, and his crew of
wreck-hunters aim to discover

and document the last
resting places of the
warriors of the past.

ROB: There you go,
we've, is that deck?

We do these as a testament
to the brave souls that
served on these ships and that,

you know, fought
for their countries.

NARRATOR: Petrel is 500
miles east of Australia
in the Coral Sea.

Hunting for one of the
most famous American
warships of all time.

When the Pacific War begins,
the USS Lexington is the

biggest aircraft
carrier in the world.

At 900 feet long and
capable of launching
over sixty warplanes,

she's bristling with menace.

NORMAN: The Lexington was
a very, very tough ship.

NARRATOR: The 'Lady Lex' as
she is known, is a key target
of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Her lucky escape makes
her a symbol of hope
for millions of Americans.

And hope is in short supply.

For months after Pearl Harbor
the Japanese military machine

appears unstoppable racking
up conquest after conquest.

Then, by May, 1942, a huge new
invasion fleet is storming
south towards Australia.

The Lady Lex is sent
to try and stop it.

She comes under
fierce aerial attack,

is wounded, but survives.

So why, many hours later,
does she end up on the seabed?

On the Petrel, the team
studies the battle,

hoping it will help them find
the wreck of the Lexington,

lost for 75 years.

ROB: So Lexington was
on southerly heading
at two three zero.

PAUL: Which gives a position.

NARRATOR: Paul Mayer is
the Petrel's onboard
historical researcher.

He's studying US Navy reports
and logbooks from the 1940's,

trying to shed light
on a possible location
for the Lady Lex.

ROB: Does it say that
Lexington sunk here?

PAUL: Yes, it says Lexington
disappeared from sight 10 miles
away from us, right?

Yeah, you do the research
and then you come out
and start looking for it

and that's kind of the
final piece of the puzzle.

There you go,
X marks the spot.

ROB: Right there!

NARRATOR: They search
many miles of seabed using an
Autonomous Underwater Vehicle,

or AUV, a robot submarine
worth $5 million dollars.

It uses the latest sonar to
map the seabed in fine detail.

It scans for days,
until it finally spots
something astonishing.

ROB: Oh man. Look that that!
PAUL: Wow.

NARRATOR: If you're looking
for an aircraft carrier,

then planes are
a very good sign.

ROB: Two, three, four,
five, six, seven at least!

NARRATOR: At 2 miles down,

these planes are far
beyond the reach of divers.

The team must deploy
another high-tech tool,

a Remotely Operated
Vehicle, or ROV.

At three tons, it weighs
more than a small truck.

Its super strong titanium
shell can handle pressure
that will be 500 times greater

than on the surface.

Tethered to the Petrel, its
cameras send back live images
from a long-hidden world.

ROB: What have you got?

MAN: Something
coming into view.

NARRATOR: The ROV's onboard
lamps illuminate a shape.

ROB: Oh, wow.

PAUL: That looks
like an airplane, T5.

NARRATOR: It's an American
bomber called a Devastator.

The Lexington carried those.

ROB: Alright.

PAUL: Shall we
carry on, Scott?

ROB: We do have a
target in front of us.

About 50 meters dead ahead.
Looks interesting on sonar.

Where are we?
Is that the?

PAUL: Those are
hangers for lifejackets.

ROB: I'm trying to work out
what we're looking at here.

PAUL: Basically we're
looking through a tunnel

and so we're just looking at
a very small portion of it.

Trying to orientate
our self to where it is.

Uh oops, go, go
back a little bit.

Right on the corner
of that little mess.

Was there something
written there?

What's that?

MAN: Right there,
Lexington, right,
right there. L.E.X.

PAUL: Oh yeah.

ROB: If there was
ever any question.

NARRATOR: The Petrel's crew
are the first people to
lay eyes on the Lexington

since the day she settled on
the floor of the Pacific.

Now, by using their
high definition scans,

and removing the vastness
of the Pacific Ocean,

we can see her in
all her glory.

An extraordinary sight.

Lady Lex has been
scythed through as if
by some enormous force.

She lies amid a vast
field of scattered debris.

And her mighty frame is broken
into three colossal sections,
each hundreds of feet apart.

On her flight deck, evidence
of appalling violence.

Where once planes
landed and took off,

there's now a
gaping hole.

What could have caused
such massive destruction?

Hours before she goes down,
the Lexington is involved
in a fight for her life.

By six am on the
morning of May 8th,

two Japanese carriers have
entered the Coral Sea.

The Lexington is one of two
American carriers that come
within striking range.

The first ever sea battle
between aircraft carriers
is soon underway.

ANTHONY: The first
one to sight the other
and launch their planes

and get the strike in
had a very good chance
of winning the battle.

NARRATOR: By 11 am,
Lexington is under attack.

ANTHONY: Once the Japanese
planes were sighted,

it becomes almost continual
action and gunfire.

NARRATOR: At the heart of
the assault, one of the most
feared Japanese aircraft.

In May, 1942, the Aichi
is the fastest dive bomber
in the Pacific War.

Its speed of more than
260 miles an hour helps the
Aichi sink more Allied ships

than any other plane
in World War II.

It carries two small
bombs under its wings

and a devastating 500
pounder under its fuselage.

The Lexington's gunners manage
to shoot down four bombers.

But just ten minutes
into the battle, disaster.

An Aichi soars above the
flight-deck and drops its
500-pound ship-killer.

NORMAN: The flight
deck is not armored.

The flight deck is thin steel.

So, bombs do go through it.

NARRATOR: The bomb
crashes through the deck
just behind a gun turret

and plummets deep
into the ship's interior
where it explodes.

JAMES: The attacks
on Lexington left the
ship a shambles.

NARRATOR: She may
be in shambles,

but somehow she survives.

In fact, her wreck is
almost 100 miles away
from the site of the battle.

So, if the bomb didn't
sink the Lexington,
who or what did?

NARRATOR: Perhaps
there's a clue to the
fate of the USS Lexington

in remarkable footage
filmed after the battle.

This shows how immediately
after the attack,

her crew begin repairs.

This allows all her precious
planes to return and land.

So confident is the crew
that by noon they're even
asking about shore leave.

They've no inkling of the
disaster about to engulf them.

Can the drained wreck site
tell us what happened next?

On the seabed, the Lady Lex
still wears the scars of
the battle she survived.

One of the three massive
sections, the bow, bears the
punch hole of the dive bomb.

But her other two sections
were clearly thrown far apart

by a force many times
greater than a bomb.

And that dive bomb hole
is completely dwarfed
by the cavernous space

that's been gouged out
of her flight deck.

It all looks like
Lady Lex has been ripped
open from the inside.

What could have done that?

MAN: See that looks like
a fracture on the ship.

ROB: Yeah. Oh yeah.

Yeah, she's broken badly.

NARRATOR: On board Petrel, the
team studies the Lexington's
original blueprints.

And these reveal that
like every aircraft
carrier of her age,

Lexington has an
Achilles heel.

ANTHONY: It's basically
a floating airport.

As you would at an airport you
need to have refueling tanks.

NARRATOR: To fuel herself
and her many planes,
the Lady Lex is carrying

140,000 gallons of
gasoline running along
a network of fuel lines.

When she is hit,
these are ruptured.

ANTHONY: Gas vapor began
to leak very slowly through
the ventilation systems

and through the doors.

It was a time bomb
waiting to go off.

(explosion)

NARRATOR: A series of blasts
culminates in a massive
explosion around three pm.

Lexington can't
take much more.

Almost 3,000 crew rush to
escape the inferno and are
rescued by nearby ships,

but even now the Lady Lex
is not quite ready to die.

At the wreck site there's
one final discovery.

ROB: What the hell is that?

NARRATOR: This American
torpedo is a haunting artifact

from the Lexington's
final moments.

24 hours ago, she had
been the Pride of the Fleet.

Now the US Navy decides to
put her out of her misery.

A US destroyer at close
range aims five torpedoes
at the Lexington.

MAN (over radio):
Commence firing.

NARRATOR: She slips
under the water.

Partly filled with gas,
and packed with munitions,

she erupts in a
cataclysmic explosion.

It's this that tears
the Lexington into the
three broken pieces

that are so striking
in her wreck site.

But the Lady Lex snatches
victory from her own defeat.

She may lie on the seabed but
the Japanese don't know that

and fear she could
launch more air attacks.

Their invasion fleet
retreats and never
returns to the Coral Sea.

JAMES: The tides of war
were beginning to change.

NARRATOR: The Petrel has
moved 600 miles north hunting
another massive wreck from

another critical moment
of the Pacific War.

Today, these
waters are idyllic.

Seventy-five years ago they
are a scene of carnage.

The Allies summon enough
resources to attack

and land on the
island of Guadalcanal,

seizing a strategic
airfield from the Japanese.

JAMES: Guadalcanal is one
of the key turning points
in the Pacific War.

It's where the United States,

and its Allies,
begin to push back.

NARRATOR: For three months,
battle rages on land and in
the waters around the island

as the Japanese try to
take back the airfield.

Now Petrel is looking for a
mighty warship that played a
tragic role in that campaign.

Her loss, it is said,
breaks America's heart.

Only nine months old,
the USS Juneau is one of
the most modern warships

in the Allied Fleet.

With forty anti-aircraft
cannons, and the latest
strengthened armor,

she's well-equipped to
resist Japanese bombers.

She's also loaded with new
technology, including radar.

Amongst her crew of 697,
are the most famous sailors
in the United States Navy,

the Sullivans.

ANTHONY: All five
resolved to join the
Navy after Pearl Harbor,

and not only that,
they insisted on serving
on the same ship.

NARRATOR:
The Sullivan brothers
become household names.

Yet just months after they
volunteer, they're gone.

(explosion)

ANTHONY: All the descriptions
of the Juneau explosion talk
about its volcanic power.

When the smoke cleared
away there was nothing
to be seen of Juneau.

NARRATOR:
The Juneau disappears in an
astonishing thirty seconds.

What could make a ship blow
up that catastrophically?

ROB: So, we've got deck logs
and war diaries from the other
vessels but the USS...

NARRATOR: Rob and Paul
want to find the
location of the Juneau,

one of the last great
mysteries of World War II.

ROB: We have three positions
reported for Juneau,

but all three positions
are within about a mile.

1.3, 1.4 miles.

So, it's a very
concentrated area.

NARRATOR: After many
weeks of searching,

the crew finally have a
target that looks promising.

ROB: The problem is
it is very deep,

and the north side is,
is very treacherous.

NARRATOR: The area they're
searching lies among steep
ravines on the seabed,

some are over twice the
depth of the Grand Canyon.

The crew uses its sonar to
search for anything that

stands out from the
natural topography.

ROB: All of that looks pretty
natural, except for that.

We've got a massive debris
field right here, which spans
probably a kilometer.

Prep the ROV.

NARRATOR: As the ROV
descends to the seabed,

two and a half miles down,
it sends a live video feed.

First, there's a trail
of enigmatic debris,

then suddenly,
metal, lots of it.

ROB: This is definitely a ship
but obviously we're looking
for some unique identifier.

Ah, there you go,
we've, is that deck?

NARRATOR: This wreck
has clearly suffered
horrific damage.

ROB: Is that the keel?

Yeah, look at this.

MAN: Yeah.
ROB: That is the bow.

So, we are gonna
wanna go over there

and take a look at
that stern, huh?

MAN: There's a letter,
right here, yeah?
MAN 2: Yeah.

ROB: Oh, and it's right where
it's supposed to be, yeah,
E, oh there's that piece,

yes, U N E, that's it.

That is the Juneau.

NARRATOR: But what
has happened to her?

Using the Petrel's scans,
it's now possible to see the
Juneau as never before.

She's been ripped apart.

Each piece is
catastrophically mangled.

And there's a mystery.

How did the two opposite
ends of the ship,
the bow and the stern,

end up crumpled on
top of each other,

while her mid-section is
2,000 feet away?

What could explain
a wreck so strange?

NARRATOR: By November, 1942,
the Imperial Japanese Command
is furious that after three

months they've still not
recaptured Guadalcanal
from the US marines.

They send a mammoth
Japanese fleet racing
towards the island.

To stop this, the Allies can
only muster a much less
powerful naval force,

including the Juneau.

It's David versus Goliath.

ANTHONY: The American
commanders know they
would be outgunned.

In fact, some of them
saw it as a potential
suicide mission.

NARRATOR: As night
falls the two fleets
approach each other.

The Allies do
have one advantage.

The very latest radar.

But there's a problem.

NORMAN: The American ships
had radars of various kinds,

but we didn't
really understand
how you use radar.

NARRATOR: Radar is so new,
many Allied captains
don't trust its data.

As they struggle to make
sense of their positions,

they drift out of formation

and right into the gun-sights
of their approaching enemy.

The Japanese captains
can't believe their luck.

JAMES: Ships were crossing
in each other's wakes.

They were practically
colliding and gun
flashes in the night

illuminated a vessel right
next to you and then away.

NARRATOR: The Japanese target
the thirteen warships in the

Allied fleet with one of their
most devastating weapons.

The Type 93 is the
most powerful torpedo
of World War II.

NORMAN: It's a very
fast torpedo and it
has an enormous warhead.

NARRATOR: With its 1,000-pound
warhead the mega torpedo helps
wreck six Allied ships.

One strikes the
Juneau amidships.

But from the maelstrom of
destruction all around her,

the Juneau manages
to slip away.

Her strong modern keel
is barely cracked,
enabling her to escape.

JAMES: Daylight finds
Juneau limping away
after the night fight,

hoping to join the
other survivors.

NARRATOR: The Juneau
does eventually find
the other Allied ships,

and her captain signals
she's in decent shape,

but seconds later
she explodes.

The Juneau ends up in pieces,

yet just hours before she'd
survived the strongest weapon
the Japanese have.

What could possibly
destroy her now?

The latest historical
research allows us to
answer that question,

and rebuild the Juneau
the way she was moments
before she sinks.

She looks undamaged apart from
the tell-tale wound left by
the Japanese mega-torpedo.

Behind this spot is
the armaments store.

As her crew signals
to their comrades,

they don't spot a lone
Japanese submarine nearby,

and out of the blue,
a torpedo rushes towards her.

It's much smaller than the one
she's already survived, but,
unfortunately for the Juneau,

it hits in almost
exactly the same spot,

breaking through the
weakened armor and igniting
the stored munitions.

She sinks in just
thirty seconds,

a victim of almost
impossible bad luck.

And what of her crew?

The explosion is so
cataclysmic that nearby

US ships are convinced the
entire crew must be dead.

ROB: When the smoke had
cleared the ship and all
debris completely vanished.

There was nothing left.

NARRATOR: But eight days
later other US forces make
a terrible discovery.

100 men from Juneau did
survive the blast, and were
left behind on the open sea.

Only ten live long
enough to tell the tale.

JAMES: What powerfully
hit American households

was the loss of all
five Sullivan boys.

But it also inspired them.

And a new ship,
the USS "The Sullivans",

would be launched to
commemorate the service

and the sacrifice
of those five men.

NARRATOR: The Sullivan
brothers and their ship
aren't lost in vain.

Faced with unexpectedly
strong resistance,

the Japanese abort
their mission.

At Guadalcanal,
the Allies gain ground

and keep it for the first
time in the Pacific War.

The Petrel is on
another expedition,

in pursuit of a
new and spectacular
target and this time,

she's Japanese.

In late 1944, the Allies are
on the march and move north to
try to take the Philippines.

Realizing that they're
losing the war, the Japanese
launch an all-out attack

on the US Navy,
deploying the biggest fleet
they've ever assembled.

JAMES: As the war reaches the
Philippines, the Japanese are
increasingly desperate.

They're on the ropes and they
throw everything they have in

an effort to stop the
US Navy in its tracks.

NARRATOR: Heading the
southern flank of their
fleet is a giant battleship

that's adored by
the Japanese public,

not least because she
bears the mythic name
for Japan herself.

The Fuso.

With prodigious battle armor
she's been upgraded with
deadly new anti-aircraft guns.

At the battle of Leyte Gulf
she has a key role,

launching a surprise attack
on part of the Allied fleet.

So why is it this behemoth
herself that ends up on
the ocean floor?

The Petrel crew is on the
case, but finding the Fuso
won't be easy.

ROB: We've multi-beamed
up here to the north so
the northwest is where

we need to go.

That's the only place.
There's a lot of wrecks here.

There's a lot of history
from World War II in
this particular area.

But you're gonna
run here next?

MAN: Yeah, we'll
just hold here,

trying to get over exactly
where we need the ship to go.

NARRATOR: They've narrowed
down the hunt to a few
square miles of ocean.

MAN: C'mon where are you?
Uh, something's coming in.

MAN 2: Wow!

MAN: Wow, that's
sticking up huge.

NARRATOR: The object is the
right size for a battleship,
but looks bizarrely twisted.

MAN: Something's stuck
out there, something's
stuck out there and...

MAN 2: It's well
and truly busted up.

NARRATOR: Can this bent
and twisted form really
be the mighty Fuso?

NARRATOR: The Petrel Crew
is exploring a wreck that
could be the remains

of a legendary Japanese
battleship, the Fuso.

These aren't the deepest
waters they've explored,

but strong currents make it
tricky to operate the ROV.

ROB: She is bouncing
around a lot now.

NARRATOR: 600 feet
below the surface,
and just barely visible,

a damaged hull.

ROB: Let's push in,
have a, a little look here.

That looks like a shaft
and a propeller over there.

PAUL: Looks like a prop.
ROB: Okay.

PAUL: Looks like
that's the rudder.

NARRATOR: It's definitely a
large warship and there are
clear signs of battle-damage.

ROB: And that's a big hole.
MAN: Torpedo damage.

NARRATOR: The team turns
to US Action Reports from
the battle of Leyte Gulf

that describe how the Fuso was
hit by American torpedoes.

ROB: We can see the
torpedo hit was aft.

NARRATOR: This
gives them an idea.

If they can match the pattern
of torpedo holes on this
wreck with the reports,

they'll know whether
this is the Fuso or not.

ROB: Oh, there you go.
Look at that.

PAUL: Yeah, there you go. Wow.

ROB: We're seeing damage all
over the hull in the places
noted in the damage report.

NARRATOR: The damage
pattern is an exact fit.

ROB: Kabam!
That's Fuso.

PAUL: Yeah.

NARRATOR: The torpedo holes
are clues to Fuso's fate,

but they don't fully explain
what happened to her.

As the waters of the
Pacific Ocean drain away,

we can at last see Fuso's
vast steel structure.

600 feet long, it's resting
upside down, half sunk in mud,

like a gargantuan
beached whale.

The bow bent back like
an opened sardine can.

Then, 150 feet from the wreck,

a second, complex structure,
studded with glinting glass.

Could this help explain
what happened here?

It's a remarkable structure
no Allied ship possessed.

ANTHONY: The distinctive
feature of the Japanese
battleships is the tall tower

masts which they called
pagodas, which were
essentially a series of

platforms to provide the
highest possible level for
observation to sight the enemy

vessels on the horizon.

NARRATOR: The Fuso's pagoda
was the biggest warship
observation tower ever built.

An astonishing 144 feet high,
it towered over the ship.

Packed with some of the
most sophisticated optical
equipment in the world from

telescopes and binoculars to
rangefinders and searchlights.

At the height of a battle,
sailors and technicians
would work as one,

computing distances
and spotting enemy
ships and planes.

It's ingenious,
but the Americans
have gone one better.

Since the battle of
Guadalcanal, they've
perfected radar.

JAMES: By the late war,
the United States not only
had learned how to use radar,

had learned to use radar well.

NARRATOR: As the Fuso closes
in on Leyte Gulf ready to
surprise the Allies,

she now lights up on
their radar screens,

and the Allies prepare
their own surprise.

ANTHONY: They were able
to set the perfect trap
as a result of this,

and array their destroyer
lines in a perfect ambush

position from both
sides of the strait.

NARRATOR: As soon as they come
in range, the US warships
launch a barrage of torpedoes.

ANTHONY: There's no
way to turn East or West
without running into some

American torpedo spread.

NARRATOR: Two torpedoes
slam into the Fuso.

She immediately
starts to capsize,

her top-heavy
pagoda shearing off.

In the shallow water, her bow
crashes into the rocky seabed.

It's this collision
that wrenches her back

into the bent sardine
can shape of the wreck.

The loss of the Fuso and
almost her entire crew of 1,600

is just the beginning
of a bloodbath at Leyte Gulf,

where twenty-five more
Japanese warships are sunk.

Japan will never again dare
confront the Allies in a
large-scale sea battle.

The Petrel is in waters 700
miles east of the Philippines
looking for another ship,

one that played a vital role
in the final apocalyptic days
of the Pacific War.

She's been in the thick
of battle many times
and survived them all.

USS Indianapolis.

In July, 1945, she is chosen
to race to Tinian Island

with a top-secret
cargo of uranium,

the crucial ingredient in the
bomb that Enola Gay will soon
carry to Hiroshima.

But shortly after completing
her mission, Indianapolis'
Captain makes a controversial

decision that will end
in his court martial.

What happens to the ship
and her crew of 1,200

is one of the most terrifying
tales in maritime history

and makes her wreck
one of the most famous

and sought after on the planet.

No one has ever managed
to find her until now.

NARRATOR: The crew of the
Petrel has been trying

to track down the wreck
of USS Indianapolis.

ROB: We need to put the
pieces of this puzzle together.

It's, it's seventy-three years
old, and there are you know,

1,200-1,300 lives at stake,

and families, and everybody
has questions as to what
happened here.

NARRATOR: So far,
they've scanned hundreds
of square miles of seabed

in the Philippines Sea,
but as yet, the Indianapolis
has eluded them.

Then, finally, a
moment of hope.

ROB: What have you got?

Yeah, we definitely need
to go have a look at that.

NARRATOR: The astonishing
image certainly looks
like a ship.

The only way to know for
sure is to send the ROV.

MAN: Oh, something
visual coming in top left.

MAN 2: Uh huh.
It's the wreckage site.

ROB: There you go.
That's good.

NARRATOR: It's
definitely a warship.

The ROV cameras explore
the deck and the hull
looking for something

that might identify her.

ROB: Look at that edge.

I mean that, that is
just ripped, torn.

NARRATOR: Then, on the
bow, the crew spot a clue.

MAN: So what does
that say right there?

ROB: Three five.
There it is.

NARRATOR: Every US
naval vessel has its
own unique ID number

and the team know
very well what number
thirty-five means.

ROB: Yeah, we've got it.

The Indy.

NARRATOR: It's a
truly historic moment.

The crew is looking at the
first ever images of one of

the most famous shipwrecks
in American History.

As the boundless waters of
the Pacific are rolled back,

they reveal the long-lost
wreck of the Indianapolis.

On her starboard side,
the unmistakably violent
signature of a torpedo strike.

And where her bow should
be there's nothing but
a ghastly empty space.

We know from contemporary
accounts the bow was sheared
off by a second torpedo strike.

But remarkable as it
seems, this doesn't
explain why she sinks.

ANTHONY: Throughout the
Pacific War, multiple times,
American cruisers had lost

their bow and or received
up to two torpedo hits
without sinking.

ROB: We need to know what that
space is called right there?

NARRATOR: The team analyzes
the Indianapolis's blueprints.

This shows her
interior crisscrossed
with compartments.

These can be sealed
shut with hatch doors,
to make them watertight,

and are intended to keep her
afloat even without her bow.

So why does she sink
in just twelve minutes?

There's a clue in
naval records that show
Captain Charles McVay

makes a fateful decision.

After she heads back
from Tinian Island,
the Indianapolis follows

standard procedure, regularly
changing direction or zigzaggin

to make it harder for
submarines to target her.

But on the evening of July 29th
McVay stops zigzagging.

NORMAN: The captain of the
Indianapolis decided that it
was so dark that a submarine

couldn't possibly
attack and therefore
he didn't have to zigzag.

NARRATOR: A little after
eleven pm, the moon rises.

It's now light enough for a
nearby Japanese submarine to
spot the giant warship.

And at five minutes after
midnight, it gets ready to
fire its torpedoes.

So why don't her
watertight compartments
save the Indianapolis?

The answer is revealed
in her drained wreck.

All along what's left of her
once sleek 500-foot length,

her portholes and
hatch doors lie open.

This strikes
historians as unusual.

JAMES: In the middle
of a sea-fight,

everything's battened
down, portholes are closed,

hatches are shut.

NARRATOR: The day
before her sinking,

portholes were indeed closed,
and compartments sealed,

but as the tropical temperature
rockets to above 100 degrees,

the Captain decides
to open the portholes
and the hatch doors

to ventilate the ship.

Now, without zigzag,
and lying open to the elements,

the Indianapolis
is a sitting duck.

And the lurking
Japanese submarine
takes full advantage.

Slamming two torpedoes
into the Indianapolis.

She continues to power
ahead at full speed

but now her bow
starts to break off.

Her forward movement funnels
sea water into her interior

and with doors open
it can pour through all
the unsealed compartments

pulling her under,

sealing the fate of
Indianapolis and
300 of her crew.

(splashing)

But for the 900 men who
make it into the water,
the horror has just begun.

600 of them perish over
the next terrible four
days from exhaustion,

from dehydration and worse.

It's the deadliest
single-ship disaster
in US Naval History.

Captain McVay is
court-martialed, convicted,

and in 1968, commits suicide.

But thirty-three years later,
Congress clears his name,

acknowledging that
intelligence about
submarines along his route

wasn't passed to his ship.

By locating the final resting
place of the Indianapolis,

the crew of the Petrel has
done something remarkable,

part of an exceptional series
of discoveries giving a new
generation insight into the

widest-ranging combat-zone
the world has ever known.

JAMES: The rest of us
have incredible respect
for the late Paul Allen,

for Rob Kraft,
and for the entire team.

They've got the
right people,

their hearts are in
the right place,

they do the right research
and they then employ

the best equipment in
a very effective way.

NARRATOR: This continuing
quest helps honor those
serving on both sides

who gave their lives at sea.

Captioned by Cotter
Captioning Services