:00:12. > :00:14.Navy to remember the bravery and heroism of those who fought in the
:00:14. > :00:20.Battle of the Atlantic. To do so we've come aboard this, the aircraft
:00:20. > :00:30.carrier at the centre of the commemorations, so welcome to a very
:00:30. > :00:56.
:00:56. > :00:59.Hello and welcome to The One Show with Matt Baker. And Alex Jones.
:00:59. > :01:09.Tonight our sofa has landed on the flight deck of the Royal Navy's
:01:09. > :01:10.
:01:10. > :01:13.largest warship, HMS Illustrious. Or, as her crew calll her, "Lusty".
:01:13. > :01:16.She's sailed up the Thames to Greenwich as part of the
:01:16. > :01:18.commemorations for the 70th anniversary of the Battle of the
:01:18. > :01:21.Atlantic, and she's not the only warship visiting the capital for
:01:21. > :01:24.this event. The destroyer HMS Edinburgh and the mine-sweeper, HMS
:01:24. > :01:29.Blyth, have also made the journey and are berthed furthur up the
:01:29. > :01:35.river. Last night there was a special service at St Paul's
:01:35. > :01:39.Cathedral. Tonight there's royalty here and veterans, of course, and
:01:39. > :01:42.we've got another special event, of a different kind. It's the first
:01:42. > :01:49.British television interview in 30 years with Agnetha from Abba, which
:01:49. > :01:54.will be fabulous. Yes, all these people are expectantly waitling for
:01:54. > :01:57.a fly-past. We hear the pilot are on their way. Helping us join in with
:01:57. > :02:05.the commemorations and the celebrations we've got Eddie Izzard
:02:05. > :02:10.with us today. Dan Snow is also here and we've got veterans Eric
:02:10. > :02:17.Winkle-Brown and Edwin Lande. Super to see you all. Isn't this exciting?
:02:17. > :02:21.Dan, just before we start, we started over there with what we call
:02:21. > :02:27.the moanial sun rise is taking place. Give us an idea of what that
:02:27. > :02:37.is and the significance of that flag. That flag is the white ensign,
:02:37. > :02:41.
:02:41. > :02:46.which Des ignites it is a Navy ship. The Royal Marines band from Plymouth
:02:46. > :02:51.are playing the Sun set. It has been going for 500 years. At the end of
:02:51. > :02:56.the day you close everything down, call in your patrols and settle in
:02:56. > :02:59.for the day. That ensign is lowered. At sea it is always up. , this is
:02:59. > :03:05.something your dad wouldis something your dad would have experience
:03:05. > :03:12.times, because he was in the Navy? He was on HMS Formidable, just after
:03:12. > :03:18.the war. It was still wartime arrangements, October '45 he joined
:03:18. > :03:23.up. He is watching right now. Another aircraft carrier. Yes, I
:03:23. > :03:28.know and I am wearing this the charity of the Royal Navy and the
:03:28. > :03:31.Royal Marines for dad. And we are all here to commemorate the 70th
:03:31. > :03:36.anniversary of the Battle of the Atlantic. It was very long and
:03:36. > :03:40.drawn-out battle wasn't it? Battle of the Atlantic, as these
:03:40. > :03:45.gentlemen are about to tell us, it went from the first day of the war
:03:45. > :03:54.to the very last day, an attempt by Germany to starve Britain, to
:03:54. > :04:02.destroy industry and they used submarines to sink ships bringing in
:04:02. > :04:07.supplies from Canada, North America. They were in large convoys, in large
:04:07. > :04:10.groups to evade these. From Derry and Liverpool, bringing in those
:04:10. > :04:15.vital supplies, without which Britain wouldn't have been able to
:04:15. > :04:20.continue in World War II. Edwin, if you can hear me over the band, you
:04:21. > :04:27.were on those ships as part of the Merchant Navy. Give us an idea how
:04:27. > :04:31.many times you were sunk? I was sunk three times, but when we were sunk
:04:31. > :04:36.we weren't in convoy, we were independent. So be sunk the first
:04:36. > :04:41.time was enough, but to keep going, because obviously you were bringing
:04:41. > :04:47.in vital supplies. Those days you kept going. When you're young you do
:04:47. > :04:53.what you have to do. Yes, and you are here to tell the tale tonight.
:04:53. > :05:01.I'm still alive. , you were one of the first to land a plane on the
:05:01. > :05:06.carrier. How did HMS H audacity compare to Illustrious? It was the
:05:06. > :05:16.very first operational escort carrier in the world. This was one
:05:16. > :05:21.of Churchill's brain Childs. It was highly successful. We did three trip
:05:21. > :05:28.trips in the convoy protection before we were sunk, but in those
:05:28. > :05:32.three ships we kill five four-engined aircraft and five
:05:32. > :05:38.U-boats, so we proved this was a way to protect convoys. This was a
:05:38. > :05:44.turning point in the Battle of the Atlantic. Eric, everybody here is
:05:44. > :05:48.wait waiting for the arrival of the fly-past. It is just coming over the
:05:48. > :05:54.top of HMS Illustrious. You will know exactly how those pilots are
:05:54. > :06:01.feeling. We've got a Swordfish starting us off. It is very
:06:01. > :06:06.exciting. Very windy, good north Atlantic conditions Eric? Here we
:06:06. > :06:14.are on an aircraft carrier flat and level. But in the Atlantic it was up
:06:14. > :06:18.and down like a matchbox in the bath. And these Swordfish landed on
:06:18. > :06:24.in spite of these dreadful conditions. And killed U-boats at
:06:24. > :06:30.such a rate that the Admiral commanding the German U-boats
:06:30. > :06:33.literally said the aircraft carrier will be the death of us. And the
:06:34. > :06:37.Swordfish is leading in this fly-past. It was famously the
:06:37. > :06:43.aircraft that dropped the torpedo that hit the Bismarck in the rudder,
:06:43. > :06:49.so it played a big role against the U-boats and surface ships. It is
:06:49. > :06:55.followed by two Lynx and a Merlin. They are the modern equivalent, they
:06:55. > :06:59.are anti-submarine aircraft, but they do other things, drop troop
:06:59. > :07:03.troops and commandos on to pirates in Africa. And the one in the middle
:07:03. > :07:09.in orange and grey is a search and rescue aircraft. Prince William
:07:09. > :07:15.flies one of those off the coast of Wales. These conditions the pilots
:07:15. > :07:23.are doing incredibly well to keep them straight and level. I feel the
:07:23. > :07:33.need to applaud. Can we do that! APPLAUSE
:07:33. > :07:34.
:07:34. > :07:38.There's one more coming apparently. Absolutely incredible. This is
:07:38. > :07:47.nostalgia. What's this like for you lads knowing what you've gone
:07:47. > :07:50.through? To see this and it vividly reminds you of what it was like in
:07:50. > :07:58.these dreadful days in the Atlantic. In the would be a mild day in the
:07:58. > :08:05.Atlantic. The ships were pitching up and down and life was pretty
:08:05. > :08:09.precarious. We lost a lot of people. When we were on a ship, we must not
:08:09. > :08:14.forget the people who are not here today, because they gave their live
:08:14. > :08:20.lives. Thank you both for your time. I know there's lots of people that
:08:20. > :08:24.want to talk to you on board, so thanks for stopping bit. It is no
:08:24. > :08:28.mean feat getting a boat like this up the Thames. Can you imagine the
:08:28. > :08:34.people who live in those flats seeing this enormous aircraft
:08:34. > :08:40.carrier. Don't forget in the history of London loads of ships used to go
:08:40. > :08:48.up here in the old days, and Napoleon came to Greenwich. Is a 210
:08:48. > :08:56.metre by 36 metre floating city. said Napoleon, I meant to say they
:08:56. > :09:03.brought Nelson back. I'm dyslexic. Lucy joined "Lusty" on her journey
:09:03. > :09:11.from Portsmouth to see exactly how she managed to get here. I join HMS
:09:11. > :09:15.Illustrious as she leaves Portsmouth for her short voyage to London. 16
:09:15. > :09:20.hours later she's in the mouth of the Thames and a daunting challenge
:09:20. > :09:25.lies just ahead. I'm about to witness the ship's very difficult
:09:25. > :09:31.passage through here, the Thames barrier. Captain Martin Connell is
:09:31. > :09:36.the man in charge. Captain, this is a big day for you? It is.Are you
:09:36. > :09:41.nervous? It is always good to have a bit of athen lip nerves would be a
:09:41. > :09:44.bad thing, but no, it is something we've planned in some detail, so we
:09:44. > :09:49.are confident, particularly in the pilots and their expertise, that
:09:49. > :09:56.this will go entirely smoothly today. What's unique with this ship
:09:56. > :09:57.as an aircraft carrier is the bridge is displaced to starboard, so we are
:09:57. > :10:01.looking out at one side of to vessel. As we approach the Thames
:10:01. > :10:06.barrier we have to line it up correctly so we'll have about 12
:10:06. > :10:09.metres either side, which sounds like quite a lot but believe me when
:10:09. > :10:16.23,000 tonnes approaching the Thames barrier, that isn't much room.
:10:16. > :10:20.is steered from here, the bridge. As HMS Illustrious waves her way up the
:10:20. > :10:25.Thames estuary I get my hands on the helm had, a moment to sense just how
:10:25. > :10:30.difficult it is to manoeuvre a vessel of this size. Why does it
:10:30. > :10:33.take so long? Because it is a huge ship? I've just had a little go at
:10:33. > :10:37.staring Illustrious. Really difficult. The amount of
:10:37. > :10:40.concentration needed is unbelievable. I'm just glad I'm not
:10:40. > :10:45.going to be in the hot seat when they are steering through the Thames
:10:45. > :10:55.barrier. It is not just about the steering. The propulsion is
:10:55. > :10:56.
:10:57. > :11:00.controlled from six decks below. Stoke Stoker is Scott Scotty.
:11:00. > :11:04.Upstairs they are using these Telegraphs to ask us what
:11:04. > :11:10.revolutions they want. That will decide the ship's speed, at the
:11:10. > :11:17.moment it is 13 knots. If it gets a bit hairy on the bridge, do you
:11:17. > :11:24.notice the tension in their voices? Yes, you've got conning one, we call
:11:24. > :11:28.it pipe. You feel the tension in the voices and that's when things happen
:11:29. > :11:36.a lot quicker. Ship approaches the Thames barrier the Captain takes up
:11:36. > :11:44.a position on the bridge roof and the atmosphere is tense. I set off
:11:44. > :11:54.in the ship's Lynx helicopter to get a really good view. How is that
:11:54. > :12:17.
:12:17. > :12:21.side, but it was safe and we got through in one piece. Now then, we
:12:21. > :12:25.said didn't we there was another plane that was going over and the
:12:25. > :12:30.Catalina went over during that film. Dan's back on the sofa to tell us
:12:30. > :12:37.the significance of the Catalina. The Catalina is an interesting
:12:37. > :12:42.place, a flying boat, it landed in Northern Ireland, on a loch. It
:12:42. > :12:47.would fly miles out into the Atlantic. You can see looking at the
:12:47. > :12:53.Catalina bulbous that look like insect eyes and they would spot
:12:53. > :12:58.submarines. They also spotted the Bismarck. Eddie, we were just saying
:12:58. > :13:04.a few years ago you honoured the memory of Royal Navy veteran Billy
:13:05. > :13:09.Swift? I went out in the 60th anniversary of the Normandy
:13:09. > :13:14.landings. He was a real character and he put a lot of effort into
:13:14. > :13:19.getting the first Navy memorial on the D-Day beaches. He raised cash to
:13:19. > :13:25.do this. He was on the Arctic convoy. These guys went through hell
:13:25. > :13:32.getting into Murmansk in Russia. There's a medal the Russians wanted
:13:32. > :13:35.to give them but for some technical reason, the Americans and the
:13:35. > :13:40.Canadians have got it, but the British aren't allowed to have this
:13:40. > :13:46.one. I think David Cameron should let the Russian medal go to the
:13:46. > :13:53.sailors who were on the Arctic convoys like Billy Swift. You know
:13:53. > :14:00.such a lot of history. Noticed that nobody was talking about history on
:14:00. > :14:06.stand-up. I was never good at these in school, why did the First World
:14:06. > :14:12.War start? I have no idea. Making jokes about the triumvirate in Rome
:14:12. > :14:17.is niche but I like it. Been all over the place. I've been all around
:14:17. > :14:23.Europe, playing in Bucharest, in Vienna, in Berlin. It is a World
:14:23. > :14:30.Tour basically. It is. Well, it is going to be cat Mooned awe this year
:14:30. > :14:40.-- at Midland ow this year and -- Kathmandu this year and America next
:14:40. > :14:45.
:14:45. > :14:55.year. I'm doing it in French now. See you talking about the spartans.
:14:55. > :15:07.
:15:07. > :15:10.Spartan women, Spartan dogs, Spartan cats. Spartan moles, Spartan sheep.
:15:10. > :15:13.There is another helicopter which is about to come on land and
:15:13. > :15:18.interrupters, but it is not quite here yet. That it is quite
:15:18. > :15:23.interesting, the union Jack has been lowered on the back of take
:15:23. > :15:27.illustrious, but you have got 1... Yes, I have got a European flag
:15:27. > :15:32.here, which I know will annoy some people. But I am very positively
:15:32. > :15:35.going around Europe. We do not want this kind of Second World War thing
:15:36. > :15:40.to happen ever again. Me and Dan Snow both agree on this. I am
:15:40. > :15:44.touring all around Europe, opening up new countries and new areas to
:15:44. > :15:49.play when you go to these countries, do you adjust your
:15:49. > :15:52.material to suit the country? No doubt I am talking about Spartans
:15:53. > :15:59.and Greeks and Romans, Lord of the rings, people smoking pipes, it is
:15:59. > :16:05.like Monty Python, it is silly and intelligent, stupid and crazy.
:16:05. > :16:10.Whether it is Wembley, Berlin, Vienna or Istanbul. When you come to
:16:10. > :16:14.a working aircraft carrier, you have got to expect this is a Merlin
:16:14. > :16:18.helicopter, is it? But kept it is the new boy of the helicopter fleet.
:16:18. > :16:22.It is such a workhorse, so versatile. It is coming into land
:16:22. > :16:26.now, they are just checking there are no objects on the deck which
:16:26. > :16:36.might get sucked up into the engines. Let's just enjoy it
:16:36. > :16:38.
:16:38. > :16:47.engines. Let's just enjoy it landing. Look at that. How long does
:16:47. > :16:50.a helicopter take to land? On board here, we have got a very special
:16:50. > :16:57.guest, who is going to the charity dinner tonight, having raised money
:16:57. > :17:01.for a fantastic course. It is worth remembering, this is actually a
:17:01. > :17:06.helicopter carrier. These are the aircraft is carries at the moment. A
:17:06. > :17:11.perfect landing. There is applause going up all around, this is
:17:11. > :17:18.brilliant. It looks like a really tricky manoeuvre, but in fact, they
:17:18. > :17:22.do this when the aircraft is moving, so they are used to it. I
:17:22. > :17:32.have got a pilot's licence, so I know a little bit about this. It is
:17:32. > :17:36.a little bit hairy. Something else that Eddie Izzard and do! I wanted
:17:36. > :17:41.to fly Spitfires, that was it. Apparently it is really difficult,
:17:41. > :17:47.because the controls are in reverse? No, Spitfires are beautiful
:17:47. > :17:51.to fly but difficult to taxi. After the D-Day landings, with Spitfires,
:17:51. > :17:57.more people died in accidents than in combat. At 450 miles an hour,
:17:57. > :18:02.some people, unfortunately, the landing is really tricky. I am just
:18:02. > :18:07.picking up on something you were saying, these days, HMS illustrious
:18:07. > :18:15.is a commando and helicopter carrier. Back in 2009, that was when
:18:15. > :18:19.the last Harrier took off. The sister ship, the HMS Ark Royal, will
:18:19. > :18:23.take its final journey to the scrapyard next week. And then next
:18:23. > :18:26.year, this ship come the illustrious, will be decommissioned.
:18:26. > :18:36.Wits begs the question, what does the future hold for the British
:18:36. > :18:40.Navy? HMS Montrose, firing the anti-ship harpoon missile off the
:18:40. > :18:44.north-west coast of Scotland last week. This American-made system has
:18:44. > :18:50.been fitted in 600 ships worldwide. Fewer and fewer of those are
:18:50. > :18:56.British. The days when Britannia ruled the waves are long over. At
:18:56. > :19:02.the end of the Second World War, the Royal Navy had 262 major ships and
:19:02. > :19:10.submarines, employing nearly half a million people. Now, the Royal Navy
:19:10. > :19:13.has shrunk to a T warships and submarines, with 34,000 personnel.
:19:13. > :19:18.Retired naval officer John mucks worthies or great change over his 32
:19:18. > :19:24.years of service. He is concerned that the modern Navy is just too
:19:24. > :19:30.small. In 1960, when I joined, there were 12 aircraft carriers, 30
:19:30. > :19:34.cruisers, 150 frigates and destroyers. Now, we will only have
:19:34. > :19:39.19 frigates and destroyers. We are a shadow of our former selves. It is a
:19:39. > :19:44.shame. We were the best Navy in the world, but we are becoming one of
:19:44. > :19:49.the smallest. How do we compare to other countries? Our nearest
:19:49. > :19:54.neighbours, France, have 10,000 more personnel, but five fewer ships. As
:19:54. > :19:58.for China, they have 68 submarines, four times as many as we have got,
:19:58. > :20:04.but the biggest Navy in the world is, unsurprisingly, the US. I have
:20:04. > :20:10.got almost ten times as many people as the Royal Navy, and a massive 283
:20:10. > :20:14.fighting ships and submarines. We clearly need to keep the US onside,
:20:14. > :20:18.but a smaller fleet does not mean we are not a force to be reckoned with.
:20:18. > :20:25.Under construction are tender of the largest warships ever built in the
:20:25. > :20:32.UK am a at a cost of �5.9 billion. HMS Queen Elizabeth is three times
:20:32. > :20:35.the size of HMS illustrious, and will enter service in 2018. John
:20:35. > :20:42.Gifford, from BAE Systems, has given Gifford, from BAE Systems, has given
:20:42. > :20:45.us a preview. Everything has been fitted in seven different shipyards,
:20:46. > :20:53.all indoors, and the idea now is to put it all together, in the assembly
:20:53. > :20:59.yard. The flight deck is more than 300 metres long, and 70 metres high.
:20:59. > :21:04.And then there is another 26 metres when you put the island on top of
:21:04. > :21:07.that. So, as you can see, with facilities, we are talking about a
:21:07. > :21:12.very big piece of structured dock all the ships are getting bigger,
:21:12. > :21:15.but overall, the Navy has recognised that it has got much smaller. But
:21:15. > :21:19.they say the reduced budget just means it has to be smaller with the
:21:19. > :21:24.resources it has got. The Navy is the right size for the task we are
:21:24. > :21:29.asked to do wherever that may be around the world. It could be in the
:21:29. > :21:33.Gulf, the Middle East... The Navy is very different to the Navy of the
:21:33. > :21:40.Second World War, which was involved in a full-scale war. At the moment,
:21:40. > :21:49.that is not the case, so we are asked to do what we are asked to do,
:21:49. > :21:54.with a Navy of an appropriate size. We are joined now by Captain
:21:54. > :21:58.Connell. I sat in your chair earlier today. Somebody said, do not press
:21:58. > :22:04.that button. It is unbelievable that you managed to navigate the ship
:22:04. > :22:07.through that passage which was so thin. Yes, I think I will leave the
:22:07. > :22:17.ship here. I do not want to think about sailing it out again. Was it
:22:17. > :22:22.really tricky? I aged ten years, but we are going to have to turn it
:22:22. > :22:28.around, and drive it backwards. is bigger than the ships of the old
:22:29. > :22:31.days. I do not think I would like to bring a bigger ship here. What is
:22:31. > :22:37.going to happen to her when she is decommissioned, and what is going to
:22:38. > :22:41.happen to you? We are still the nation's on-call helicopter carrier.
:22:41. > :22:46.We are on a few days notice to go anywhere in the world. When the
:22:46. > :22:52.sister ship comes out next year, we will decommission, after 32 years of
:22:52. > :22:57.service to the nation. Will it be turned into a museum? I hope so.
:22:57. > :23:06.Right has said it is grown to save this ship for the nation. It is the
:23:06. > :23:11.last surviving Invincible class carrier. And you and Illustrious are
:23:11. > :23:21.bowing out at the same time. Yes, it is very sad, I have got very good
:23:21. > :23:24.
:23:24. > :23:30.memories. Shortly, we will be hearing from the Royal Marine band,
:23:30. > :23:34.but first of all, a very different kind of music. Yes, Agnetha Faltskog
:23:34. > :23:44.has been a virtual recluse for 30 years, but she is back, and she has
:23:44. > :23:45.
:23:45. > :23:49.given her first British television interview to us. Like thousands, I
:23:49. > :23:59.grew up listening to ABBA, which is why I am intrigued to be meeting
:23:59. > :24:02.
:24:02. > :24:06.Agnetha today. She is back, and I cannot wait to ask her why. I want
:24:06. > :24:11.to read a review to you which I read about your voice from the new
:24:11. > :24:17.album. The tender age in her voice is still there, as if burned by
:24:17. > :24:23.love, and the embers are still hot to the touch. Isn't that lovely?
:24:23. > :24:31.is lovely. It is always good to hear positive things. The new album is
:24:32. > :24:36.was going to do another one. I thought my last record was my last
:24:36. > :24:41.record. Then, when the guys came to my house and presented three new
:24:41. > :24:51.songs, it was very good quality, and I could feel a challenge to do this
:24:51. > :24:51.
:24:51. > :24:58.again. Because I love to record. how was your voice after a few years
:24:58. > :25:07.of not singing regularly? Yes, it was a bit rusty to start with. I had
:25:07. > :25:11.to take some singing lessons just to get back to that old feeling.
:25:11. > :25:18.going to be the 40th anniversary in 2014 of Waterloo going to number one
:25:18. > :25:26.and winning Eurovision. Are there any plans to celebrate that
:25:26. > :25:36.anniversary? There should be! We now have a museum in Stockholm as well.
:25:36. > :25:36.
:25:36. > :25:42.So, there is a celebration every year, I think! One big talking point
:25:42. > :25:46.about ABBA, was it you who chose them? No, we had two guys who chose
:25:46. > :25:51.them for us, and I would say they did a very good job. It was good
:25:51. > :26:01.material to work in, because it was a bit stretchy. It looks pretty
:26:01. > :26:02.
:26:02. > :26:07.tight. Yes, but it but it was tight anyway! I recently did a singalong
:26:07. > :26:12.with a group of children, and I said, what song shall we sing?
:26:12. > :26:16.Waterloo. Because they enjoyed mamma Mia. Yes, it is fantastic, because
:26:16. > :26:25.it goes from generation to generation.
:26:25. > :26:34.# Mamma Mia, here I go again. # Do you see each other? Yes, now and
:26:34. > :26:40.then. I met Frida last summer, on vacation. We sat down and spoke very
:26:40. > :26:46.emotionally, we spoke about nostalgic memories and so on.
:26:46. > :26:51.have something in common that only the four of us have gone through.
:26:51. > :27:00.And yet, in Britain, when we have weddings, there is one song which is
:27:00. > :27:03.guaranteed to be played, dancing Queen. It appeals to energy and
:27:03. > :27:13.happiness are. Does it give you energy, does it made you get up and
:27:13. > :27:20.
:27:20. > :27:25.want to dance? Yes she is back! album is out on the 13th of May.
:27:25. > :27:33.ceremonies do not end here, what else is planned over the next
:27:33. > :27:39.month? Obviously, it will be marked in places like Liverpool, so, at the
:27:39. > :27:43.end of the month, there will be a big service and ceremony in
:27:43. > :27:48.Liverpool, which BBC One will be carrying. And there are other
:27:48. > :27:51.events, particularly on that Western coast of Britain. It was heavily
:27:51. > :27:59.bombed by the Luftwaffe, amongst other places. So they were really
:27:59. > :28:02.part of the battle. Some good news before we go, we have what a
:28:02. > :28:06.surprise for several able seaman. You have been promoted. They have
:28:06. > :28:11.been promoted to leading hand. We are not quite sure what that means,
:28:11. > :28:18.but huge congratulations. Thank you so much for everybody's hospitality