They’re icons – the absolute last word in style and engineering. In their day they were the biggest, the most powerful and the most complicated machines ever built by man. Secrets of the Royal Yachts II: The Queen Mary: Royals at Sea
She attracted the celebrity A-listers of her day. And became the favourite of our most controversial king. Every detail about this ship was intricate and every feature awesome. Wherever she went she turned heads. ibid.
She was the last word in luxury. ibid.
The engine room is so big it took up most of the space on five lower decks in the 1,000-feet-long royal ship. ibid.
Called into military service, painted grey. ibid.
In November 1872 the Atlantic experienced the worst weather since records began. 450 vessels were lost or abandoned at sea. But only one would become a legend – the Mary Celeste. She was found drifting 400 east of the Azores, seaworthy, her cargo well stowed, and with food and supplies for six months on board. But ten people – the captain, his family and crew – had vanished without trace. The True Story of the Mary Celeste, Yesterday 2017
The men found working charts; missing were the ship’s papers, navigational instruments and maps. Personal effects did not seem to be disturbed; topside, the crew found both masts secure; the sails set were torn, rigging in disarray, and missing, the peak halyard, the longer rope on the ships. ibid.
But if the missing alcohol, some 450 gallons, remained in the hold, Oliver Deveau would have smelt fumes when he first boarded the ship and he did not. ibid.
In January 1885 the Mary Celeste under new owners was scuttled in an insurance fraud. ibid.
In a terrible few seconds a symbol of American power was blown into oblivion in what was called a terror attack. An enraged United States vowed revenge and fought a war that gained an empire and changed the world. But did America go to war for the right reasons? Unsolved History s1e2: The Death of the USS Maine, Discovery 2002
229 officers, sailors and marines from the USS Maine lost in a tragic explosion on February 15th 1898. ibid.
Was the Maine blown up deliberately in a sneak attack or was she destroyed due to a catastrophic mechanical failure? ibid.
This burst of internal pressure also explains the final undistorted edge of section 1 … a catastrophic internal explosion. ibid.
April 15th 1912: more than 1,500 people die on the Titanic. May 7th 1915: 1,198 die when the Lusitania was torpedoed by a German submarine. December 7th 1941: 1,177 perish aboard the USS Arizona … January 30th 1945: more perished in one sea disaster than all who died on these tragedies multiplied by 3. History estimated between 6 and 9,000 people were lost when a refugee ship, the Wilhelm Gustloff, was torpedoed by Soviet submarines. It was a staggering human disaster yet what happened remains a mystery. Unsolved History s1e19: Wilhelm Gustloff
Almost immediately the Battle of the Atlantic was joined. This was a conflict neither side was prepared for. There were only 27 ocean-going U-boats in the German fleet, and the Allies had barely enough anti-submarine warships to counter this small threat. Secrets of War s2e8: The Battle of the Atlantic, History 1998
The convoy system was critical for transporting much-needed men and supplies across the north Atlantic. ibid.
The cryptanalysts had succeeded in breaking the Luftwaffe and Wehrmacht Enigma codes. ibid.
As many as ten submarines would converge on a convoy. ibid.
1835: The largest ship ever built at the time: SS Great Western. Rob Bell, Brunel: The Man Who Built Britain, Channel 5 2017
In 1838 the maiden voyage of Brunel’s first ship, the SS Great Western, had emphatically demonstrated the power of steam over sail. Rob Bell, Brunel: The Man Who Built Britain II, Channel 5 2017
1Even bigger and even bolder … the SS Great Britain … 322 feet long and 51 feet wide … a hull made completely of iron … propeller technology was the future. ibid.
The SS Great Eastern was set to be a monster, a giant of a vessel six times the size of the Great Britain. ibid.
In 1835 he [Brunel] came up with an idea that foresaw the largest ship ever built at the time, the SS Great Western: 236 feet long, over 1,300 tonnes in weight, mainly built from oak. Rob Bell, Brunel’s Britain s1e1: Master of Bridges, Channel 5 2018
In 1838 the maiden voyage of Brunel’s first ship, the SS Great Western, had emphatically demonstrated the power of steam over sail. Rob Bell, Brunel’s Britain s1e2: King of the Sea
That ship was the SS Great Britain … At the time she was the largest ship afloat at 322 feet long and 51 feet wide … A hull made completely of iron … His research resulted in this whopping six-bladed propeller. ibid.
The single most important vessel ever built. ibid.
By February 1854 construction of the great ship had begun. It was to be 700 feet long, powered by four giant steam engines that would drive a huge propeller with two vast paddle wheels each side … It could carry 4,000 passengers and 6,000 tonnes of cargo … The SS Great Eastern … would have to be launched sideways into the water … It took nine more weeks to get it into the water. ibid.
Majestic, powerful and deadly: for over 400 years British ships ruled the waves. These magnificent vessels shaped the fortunes of our nation. Rob Bell, Great British Ships s1e1: HMS Victory: Nelson’s Great Warship, Channel 5 2018
HMS Victory: the ship that won the Battle of Trafalgar. Together with her famous commander Admiral Nelson, Victory confirmed Britain’s domination of the oceans for over a century. ibid.
21st October 1805: In the waters off the southern tip of Spain a battle raged that would come to be seen as Britain’s greatest ever naval encounter: Trafalgar. ibid.
The mystery of the Mary Rose: Henry VIII’s gun-laden battleship lost in an unexplained tragedy. Rediscovered by pioneering archaeologists, she is a Tudor time-capsule and Britain’s most extraordinary shipwreck. Rob Bell, Great British Ship s1e2: The Mary Rose: Secrets from the Deep
The only 16th-century ship anywhere on Earth. ibid.
Henry’s own fleet of some eighty ships. They were outnumbered nearly three to one. ibid.
Her hull showed no damage from enemy firepower. ibid.
Ages ranged between 10 and 40. ibid.
The extraordinary story of the Golden Hind: the first English ship to sail around the globe. Sir Francis Drake’s epic voyage was marked by daring, violence, and betrayal. Yet the Golden Hind also set Britain on a path to becoming the world’s greatest sea power. Rob Bell, Great British Ships s1e3: Drake’s Royal Voyager: The Golden Hind
1577: A small group of ships set sail from the south coast of England: at their head was the ship we now know as the Golden Hind. ibid.
Drake plundered immense amounts of gold from the Caribbean by shamelessly stealing from Spanish treasure ships. ibid.
Even by Elizabethan standards the Golden Hind was a small ship. ibid.
The incredible story of the Cutty Sark: this ship was built for one thing – speed. Designed to conquer the oceans, she witnessed murder on her decks, battling for survival in an age of steam power, she’s the ship who wouldn’t give up. Rob Bell, Great British Ships s1e4: Cutty Sark: 150 Years of War & Speed
Greenwich, 2007: a national treasure burns. Flames rip through the body of one of the most iconic sailing ships of all time – the Cutty Sark. ibid.
These ocean-going races gripped the nation. ibid.
She tramped all over the world. ibid.
Re-born as a wool clipper. ibid.
For 27 years the Cutty Sark sailed under the Portuguese flag. Then in 1922 she came home … a training ship for Navy cadets. ibid.
A ship that changed the world: the SS Great Britain. A ship that outclassed all the competition. But her history was anything but plain sailing; she would weather a series of maritime disasters, lose the trust of her passengers, and experience an unlikely resurrection. Rob Bell, Great British Ships s1e5: SS Great Britain
With her iron hull and propeller propulsion she was the most advanced ship the world had ever seen. During her construction she was even called the greatest experiment since the Creation … At 320 feet, she was 100 feet longer and 1,000 tons heavier than her closest rival. She represented a huge leap forward in ship building and can only have been dreamt up by one man: Isambard Kingdom Brunell. ibid.
The extraordinary story of HMS Belfast: the warship that helped bring down the Nazi empire … Battling the world’s most dangerous oceans, she took the fight to the enemy. Rob Bell, Great British Ships s1e6: HMS Belfast: WW2’s Great Survivor
Built in 1938, HMS Belfast was designed to deliver the perfect balance of speed and firepower. She was a cruiser, small and faster than a battleship, with a sleek-line hull that could cut through the roughest of seas. Belfast was swift but she was also deadly. ibid.
The deadly power of these new magnetic mines posed a massive threat to the Royal Navy. ibid.