Silent Service

E1 Episode 1: The Boats of World War II

• Now playing
• Jan 6, 2000

Meet the U.S. Navy submariners of WWII--hunters who lived under the sea in cramped and claustrophobic quarters as they stalked their victims. We'll see how Navy designers struggled to achieve a submarine design that ultimately proved to be the best underwater craft to fight in the war. Included are stories of the Squalus, whose crew was the first to be rescued from a disastrous sinking, and the Argonaut, the largest submarine built until the advent of nuclear subs in the 1950s.

E2 Episode 2: The Captains of World War II

• Jan 13, 2000

They were self-reliant individualists who forged a deadly team, and the initiative of individual submarine captains proved instrumental in the American victory in the Pacific. We'll see how trendsetters like Dudley Morton and Richard O'Kane brought new ideas to submarine warfare, showing that aggressive strategies, like surface running, were the best way to sink the most enemy ships. Sam Dealey, a submarine captain known as "The Destroyer Killer", is also featured.

E3 Episode 3: The Torpedoes of World War II

• Jan 20, 2000

Only a few weeks after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Navy experienced a failure of critical technology--the torpedoes that armed its fleet of submarines were defective. The ensuing debacle ranks as one of the great near disasters of WWII. We'll see how the exigencies of war clashed with entrenched bureaucracies and egos of the naval ordnance establishment. After two years of frustration the submariners prevailed and with effective weapons went on to achieve remarkable results.

E4 Episode 4: Attack Plans of World War II

• Jan 27, 2000

Examines the evolution of the strategy and tactics used by U.S. submarines in the war against Japan. Conceived as scouts for the surface fleet, the fleet of boats of the "silent service" found their true calling as heirs to the commerce-raiders of the American Revolution and Civil War. By embracing the once-condemned practice of "unrestricted submarine warfare", these stealthy predators of the deep virtually swept the Pacific of Japanese maritime shipping.

E5 Episode 5: Wolfpack: U-Boats of World War II

• Feb 3, 2000

E6 Episode 6: Submarines of the Atlantic

• Feb 10, 2000

E7 Episode 7: Tracking the Enemy

• Feb 17, 2000

E8 Episode 8: Submarine Special Ops

• Feb 24, 2000

E9 Episode 9: Japanese Submarines

• Mar 2, 2000

E10 Episode 10: Submarines of Russia

• Mar 9, 2000

E11 Episode 11: Deterrence from the Deep

• Mar 16, 2000