0:00:04 > 0:00:05In October 1843,
0:00:05 > 0:00:10100,000 people gathered on the streets of London.
0:00:10 > 0:00:16A grand memorial to their greatest hero was about to be unveiled.
0:00:16 > 0:00:19Nelson's column, built with donations from an adoring public,
0:00:19 > 0:00:24their gift to a man who had paid for victory with death.
0:00:24 > 0:00:31His granite figure stands 50 metres up, facing south towards the site of his last and greatest victory,
0:00:31 > 0:00:33Trafalgar.
0:00:33 > 0:00:37The turning point in the titanic struggle against France,
0:00:37 > 0:00:42a war from which Britain had emerged as the world's only super-power.
0:00:42 > 0:00:44But this was so much more than just a statue.
0:00:44 > 0:00:47Situated here in the heart of London, between Parliament,
0:00:47 > 0:00:49Buckingham Palace and the City,
0:00:49 > 0:00:52Nelson's column was the totem of the British state,
0:00:52 > 0:00:57and a clear expression of the central role of the Royal Navy within it.
0:00:58 > 0:01:02After Trafalgar, the Navy took control of the world's sea lanes,
0:01:02 > 0:01:06driving Britain's pursuit of trade and empire.
0:01:07 > 0:01:12New technologies extended its lead over other navies.
0:01:13 > 0:01:17And more than ever, British ships and sailors were the symbols of the nation.
0:01:21 > 0:01:28But Britain's dominance would not go uncontested forever, and by 1914 she faced her greatest challenge yet.
0:01:30 > 0:01:34Once again, Britain found herself vying for global supremacy,
0:01:34 > 0:01:40this time against a backdrop of unprecedented upheaval and the emergence of a dangerous new enemy.
0:01:40 > 0:01:44The Navy, which had been the instrument of Britain's success,
0:01:44 > 0:01:47now took her to the very brink of defeat.
0:02:06 > 0:02:08Early one January morning in 1841,
0:02:08 > 0:02:1312 British warships sailed up to the mouth of the Pearl River,
0:02:13 > 0:02:16gateway to the southern Chinese port of Canton.
0:02:20 > 0:02:25As the 19th century unfolded, the navy had built on Nelson's legacy.
0:02:25 > 0:02:29They had pushed British interests further afield than ever before.
0:02:29 > 0:02:33Algeria, Egypt, Burma, New Zealand.
0:02:36 > 0:02:38Now, it was China's turn.
0:02:41 > 0:02:44The Royal Navy was here to open up China for business,
0:02:44 > 0:02:47but this was no polite trading mission.
0:02:47 > 0:02:48This was war.
0:02:51 > 0:02:56For years, British merchants had been buying Chinese tea and paying with opium.
0:02:56 > 0:03:00They smuggled in six million kilograms a year.
0:03:00 > 0:03:06The Chinese authorities had been appalled by the devastating affect of the drug on their people.
0:03:06 > 0:03:11They clamped down on the trade, and threw the British out of China.
0:03:11 > 0:03:15Retribution was to be brutal and effective.
0:03:17 > 0:03:20The Navy was sent to re-open the Chinese market by force.
0:03:22 > 0:03:25Among the fleet that day there was a new ship.
0:03:25 > 0:03:27She hadn't yet been tested in battle.
0:03:27 > 0:03:29She was called Nemesis.
0:03:29 > 0:03:32For the Chinese, that's what she turned out to be.
0:03:33 > 0:03:36Nemesis went into action against 15 war junks.
0:03:36 > 0:03:41As soon as she opened fire, she immediately set one alight.
0:03:41 > 0:03:45From the deck, her captain, William Hall, viewed the scene.
0:03:45 > 0:03:48"The smoke and flame and thunder of the explosion,"
0:03:48 > 0:03:54he said, "were enough to strike awe, if not fear, into the stoutest heart that looked upon it."
0:03:56 > 0:03:58Armed with antiquated guns and spears,
0:03:58 > 0:04:05the junks were no match for the Nemesis and her evil weapons in a modern world.
0:04:05 > 0:04:08They turned and fled up narrow river channels.
0:04:14 > 0:04:19At this point, the large traditional sailing ships of the Royal Navy would have had to give up the chase.
0:04:19 > 0:04:24But the Nemesis was able to set off after the junks in hot pursuit
0:04:24 > 0:04:28because deep within her hull roared a steam engine.
0:04:28 > 0:04:32Revolutionary new technology that drove a ship through the water
0:04:32 > 0:04:35no matter what the wind, tide or currents were doing.
0:04:35 > 0:04:40And every single junk the Nemesis chased, she captured or destroyed.
0:04:48 > 0:04:53Never before had a steam-powered ship played such a decisive role.
0:04:56 > 0:05:00The astonished Chinese called her a demon ship.
0:05:04 > 0:05:07Britain was shaping the future of warfare and China,
0:05:07 > 0:05:11the world's oldest empire, suffered a crushing defeat.
0:05:16 > 0:05:21In the past, people put the extraordinary success of the British Empire in this period
0:05:21 > 0:05:24down to divine favour or racial superiority,
0:05:24 > 0:05:29or even a particular kind of valour, but none of this was true.
0:05:29 > 0:05:33It was Britain's industrial lead that lay at the heart of this triumph.
0:05:33 > 0:05:38The Navy, once dominant, had now become untouchable.
0:05:42 > 0:05:47But the British didn't claim huge swathes of mainland China as their spoils of war.
0:05:47 > 0:05:50Instead, she merely demanded the right
0:05:50 > 0:05:55to trade through Chinese ports, and the Navy took its own prize -
0:05:55 > 0:06:00a Chinese island with a deep, sheltered harbour -
0:06:00 > 0:06:01Hong Kong.
0:06:03 > 0:06:04CAR HORNS BEEP
0:06:13 > 0:06:16It's hard to believe this was once the quiet beach front of Hong Kong,
0:06:16 > 0:06:21and this road here was actually a towpath that was used by the crews of junks.
0:06:21 > 0:06:24Beyond it was the sea, and in January 1841
0:06:24 > 0:06:28British Naval officers disembarked and landed at this very spot.
0:06:28 > 0:06:32They planted a flag in the ground and drank a toast to Queen Victoria,
0:06:32 > 0:06:35and then, with three cheers, took possession of Hong Kong.
0:06:39 > 0:06:44The mastermind behind the occupation of Hong Kong was Royal Navy Captain, Charles Elliott.
0:06:44 > 0:06:48He was Britain's Chief Superintendent for Trade in China,
0:06:48 > 0:06:50and he had grand plans for the island.
0:06:53 > 0:06:57Elliott didn't just see Hong Kong as a naval base, but as the perfect place
0:06:57 > 0:07:00from which British merchants could conduct all their trade with China.
0:07:02 > 0:07:09Within months, Elliott started selling small plots of land and invited merchants in to trade.
0:07:11 > 0:07:14But back in London, the British government didn't see it the Navy's way.
0:07:16 > 0:07:21Hong Kong was dismissed as a barren island with hardly a house upon it.
0:07:21 > 0:07:23Elliott was sacked.
0:07:27 > 0:07:31But despite his departure, Elliott's plans had a momentum of their own.
0:07:31 > 0:07:35A small fleet of six Royal Navy vessels was kept anchored in the harbour.
0:07:35 > 0:07:38With the security of knowing their warehouses
0:07:38 > 0:07:43and cargoes were protected, British merchants kept investing.
0:07:43 > 0:07:48Captain Elliott's successor predicted, "Within six months of Hong Kong being declared
0:07:48 > 0:07:53"a permanent colony, it will be a vast emporium of commerce and wealth".
0:07:54 > 0:08:00In 1842, Hong Kong was formally ceded to the British Empire, in perpetuity.
0:08:03 > 0:08:08From then on, the warships stationed in the harbour became a potent sign of the force
0:08:08 > 0:08:13that would come crashing down on the Chinese if they reneged on the deal.
0:08:17 > 0:08:21It was the advent of what became known as "gunboat diplomacy",
0:08:21 > 0:08:25British interests secured down the barrel of a gun.
0:08:26 > 0:08:34This was central to the so-called Pax Britannica, peace enforced by worldwide naval domination.
0:08:37 > 0:08:45By 1848, 129 British warships were posted on 55 foreign stations.
0:08:47 > 0:08:52The Navy's bases on Gibraltar, Malta and Aden guarded the key routes to India.
0:08:55 > 0:08:59The Falklands protected British interests in South America.
0:09:01 > 0:09:03And in the middle of the world's oceans,
0:09:03 > 0:09:05supply stations on islands like Ascension
0:09:05 > 0:09:09kept naval ships steaming from port to port.
0:09:09 > 0:09:15World trade flowed like never before, nearly doubling in the 1850s alone.
0:09:15 > 0:09:17Riding high on the back of her dominant navy,
0:09:17 > 0:09:20Britain had the lion's share,
0:09:20 > 0:09:23twice as much as her nearest rival, France.
0:09:28 > 0:09:32People think that Britain was rich and powerful because of her vast Empire,
0:09:32 > 0:09:37but actually, you can forget the big open spaces of southern Africa, Australia and Canada.
0:09:37 > 0:09:43The source of her wealth was control of the territory that really mattered, the sea.
0:09:57 > 0:10:00Back at home, the Navy was celebrated like never before.
0:10:03 > 0:10:08Over the summer of 1863, the best family day out was
0:10:08 > 0:10:14a trip to see the Navy's ships as they went on a tour around Britain.
0:10:16 > 0:10:241.5 million people, 7% of the population, turned out to see their splendid fleet.
0:10:27 > 0:10:29It was all part of an elaborate PR exercise,
0:10:29 > 0:10:34designed to highlight the central role of the Navy in public life.
0:10:37 > 0:10:40This was the star of the show.
0:10:40 > 0:10:48HMS Warrior, the largest, fastest, most powerful battleship anywhere in the world at the time.
0:10:48 > 0:10:51She is famous for being Britain's first ironclad.
0:10:51 > 0:10:54In fact, she's more than just clad in iron, she's iron throughout,
0:10:54 > 0:10:59making her one of the most revolutionary ships of all time.
0:11:03 > 0:11:07The Warrior was the embodiment of the industrial revolution, at sea.
0:11:10 > 0:11:14Inside, people could marvel at some of the greatest inventions of the era.
0:11:23 > 0:11:24The engine room.
0:11:26 > 0:11:31240 tons' worth of machinery down here.
0:11:31 > 0:11:34It's when you come right down here into the bowels of the ship,
0:11:34 > 0:11:37away from the masts and rigging up there,
0:11:37 > 0:11:43that you realise just how far we are now from Nelson's navy of wood and sails.
0:11:51 > 0:11:54This new navy needed men with different skills.
0:11:54 > 0:12:01The crew included 12 engineers to operate the engines, and up to 66 stokers to shovel coal.
0:12:01 > 0:12:06At full pelt, they could make the Warrior go faster than any sail-powered battleship.
0:12:10 > 0:12:13The Armstrong guns were a brand new design.
0:12:13 > 0:12:16The first thing we do when we come to fire something like this, 110 pounder,
0:12:16 > 0:12:19is we need to slacken off the breach group.
0:12:23 > 0:12:29The 110 pound breach loader could propel shells over a range of 2.5 miles.
0:12:33 > 0:12:37They were laid out in a single gun deck within an armoured citadel.
0:12:37 > 0:12:42The most powerful guns of the day couldn't pierce these iron walls, even at point blank range.
0:12:45 > 0:12:49There were no set visitor hours, so people could just drop by
0:12:49 > 0:12:55any time of day, but that meant that they saw whatever was going on on board at the time.
0:12:55 > 0:13:00On this deck alone, 450 sailors might be taking their lunch at these tables, or cleaning the decks,
0:13:00 > 0:13:02or repairing parts of the ship.
0:13:02 > 0:13:06Or, if they were off duty, perhaps they'd just be fixing up their uniforms
0:13:06 > 0:13:07or just reading the newspaper.
0:13:07 > 0:13:14It was a unique opportunity for the public to gain a glimpse of the realities of life on board.
0:13:16 > 0:13:19And they were amazed by it.
0:13:19 > 0:13:24Not just the weapons, but the state-of-the-art domestic touches.
0:13:24 > 0:13:31Bathing was a rare event for many Victorians, but the Warrior had private bathroom facilities.
0:13:31 > 0:13:36And ladies were astonished by the first-ever onboard washing machines.
0:13:40 > 0:13:46The Admiralty had pulled out all the stops to show the Navy in the best possible light.
0:13:46 > 0:13:50It reassured the public that Britain still ruled the waves.
0:13:53 > 0:13:59Because Warrior had been built in response to a terrifying new reality.
0:13:59 > 0:14:03For the first time in over 100 years, another nation had stolen a march
0:14:03 > 0:14:06on Britain's technological lead.
0:14:08 > 0:14:11The surprising thing about the idea for this kind of ship
0:14:11 > 0:14:16is that it didn't come from Britain at all, but from her oldest enemy, France.
0:14:16 > 0:14:22It was the French who had launched the world's first ironclad battleship in 1859,
0:14:22 > 0:14:24called La Gloire.
0:14:24 > 0:14:27Now, this was a wake up call to everyone at the Admiralty,
0:14:27 > 0:14:32a reminder that the French threat was still alive and well.
0:14:34 > 0:14:38La Gloire had been a crushing blow to national pride.
0:14:38 > 0:14:43Prince Albert had fumed, "The war preparations of the French are immense.
0:14:43 > 0:14:44"Ours are despicable.
0:14:44 > 0:14:48"What have we got to meet this new engine of war?"
0:14:51 > 0:14:53The answer was Warrior,
0:14:53 > 0:14:581.5 times bigger, and twice as powerful as La Gloire.
0:15:00 > 0:15:03No ship in the world could compete with the Warrior.
0:15:03 > 0:15:07Britain had yet again established its naval supremacy,
0:15:07 > 0:15:10but the shipbuilding revolution did not stop here.
0:15:10 > 0:15:12Instead, it accelerated.
0:15:12 > 0:15:18Britain and France both desperately strove to outdo each other and produce new and more powerful ships.
0:15:18 > 0:15:24A new term was coined to describe this intense rivalry - an arms race.
0:15:24 > 0:15:26And the pace was incredibly fast.
0:15:26 > 0:15:29Ships were outdated as soon as they were launched.
0:15:29 > 0:15:35Ten years after the Warrior, the most powerful ship on earth, was commissioned, it was obsolete.
0:15:40 > 0:15:44The building of Warrior marked the start of a battle between Britain and her rivals
0:15:44 > 0:15:51that would be decided not by combat, but through a never-ending game of technological one-upmanship.
0:15:51 > 0:15:57And over the next 20 years, it was Britain's navy which appeared to be winning the arms race.
0:15:57 > 0:16:02The question was, could the men inside the navy keep up?
0:16:13 > 0:16:18In October 1881, the Navy's latest ship arrived in Malta,
0:16:18 > 0:16:23home to the Mediterranean fleet, the largest and most important fleet in the Navy.
0:16:27 > 0:16:32In command, her newly appointed captain, Jacky Fisher.
0:16:35 > 0:16:39When Fisher entered this harbour, he must have thought that he'd arrived.
0:16:39 > 0:16:42He'd been given his most prestigious posting yet,
0:16:42 > 0:16:48command of HMS Inflexible, the most advanced, powerful battleship in the Royal Navy.
0:16:48 > 0:16:53He would have known that all the eyes in the fleet were on him and his new ship.
0:16:55 > 0:16:59Jacky Fisher was enthralled by the latest inventions of his age.
0:16:59 > 0:17:03He'd made a name for himself pioneering a new type of weapon, the torpedo.
0:17:03 > 0:17:09For him, the Inflexible was a wonder, with the thickest armour, the biggest guns,
0:17:09 > 0:17:10the largest of everything.
0:17:10 > 0:17:14Beyond any ship in the world.
0:17:16 > 0:17:19Above all else, she was modern.
0:17:19 > 0:17:23As well as two colossal steam engines to drive the propellers,
0:17:23 > 0:17:28there were 39 smaller engines to power electric lighting, ventilation,
0:17:28 > 0:17:30steering gear and hydraulic pumps.
0:17:33 > 0:17:40Captain Fisher immediately set to work, making Inflexible ready for the Admiral's inspection.
0:17:42 > 0:17:47Fisher did everything he could to get the Inflexible up to a full state of battle readiness,
0:17:47 > 0:17:50but despite all his hard work he didn't receive any official credit,
0:17:50 > 0:17:52and the reason for that was very simple.
0:17:52 > 0:17:56Fisher and his men were no good at sailing.
0:17:57 > 0:18:02Well, they were good sailors, but they just couldn't use the sails.
0:18:04 > 0:18:08Incredibly, Inflexible, which was state of the art in every other way,
0:18:08 > 0:18:12had masts, rigging and hundreds of feet of canvas sails.
0:18:17 > 0:18:21Although traditional sailing skills were now irrelevant to modern warfare,
0:18:21 > 0:18:27the top brass at the Admiralty still believed that sailors were nothing without sails.
0:18:30 > 0:18:32The old guard clung to their traditions.
0:18:32 > 0:18:39They regarded the use of the engine as unseaman-like, and there could be no greater insult.
0:18:39 > 0:18:44But Fisher said that sails had, "As much effect upon the Inflexible
0:18:44 > 0:18:49"in a gale of wind, as a fly would have on a hippopotamus."
0:18:52 > 0:18:56He was alienated by what he called the "bow and arrow party" in the Admiralty.
0:19:00 > 0:19:06He saw that future battles would be decided by the speed of engines and the power of guns.
0:19:08 > 0:19:12But the modern machines Fisher celebrated were despised.
0:19:12 > 0:19:16Those who operated them, the engineers and stokers with their
0:19:16 > 0:19:21dirty uniforms and technical know-how, were treated as interlopers.
0:19:21 > 0:19:25Even when masts and sails were gradually phased out,
0:19:25 > 0:19:30sail drill was replaced by an obsession for cleanliness.
0:19:30 > 0:19:33There were even reports of ammunition being dumped overboard
0:19:33 > 0:19:36to avoid the mess caused by gun practice.
0:19:36 > 0:19:39Battleships were becoming showpieces, not weapons of war.
0:19:39 > 0:19:42Appearance was more important than function.
0:19:42 > 0:19:48The old guard were failing to get to grips with the new technologies that were revolutionising war at sea.
0:19:48 > 0:19:51There was an expression around at the time to describe this attitude.
0:19:51 > 0:19:54It said that when the ships were wood, the men were iron.
0:19:54 > 0:19:59Now that the ships were iron, the men were wood.
0:19:59 > 0:20:03Fisher was convinced that in the hands of the traditionalists,
0:20:03 > 0:20:06the Navy was lagging dangerously behind in the arms race.
0:20:09 > 0:20:14When he returned to London in 1884, he fought back.
0:20:18 > 0:20:21His tactics would be instantly recognisable today.
0:20:22 > 0:20:27He leaked sensational stories of arms shortages to the press.
0:20:30 > 0:20:35He found an ally in WT Stead, editor of the Pall Mall Gazette,
0:20:35 > 0:20:39and pioneer of a new kind of shock journalism.
0:20:39 > 0:20:45Dramatic exposes designed to whip his readers up into a storm of indignation.
0:20:48 > 0:20:52Ah, here we go. Front page. A headline that will get everybody reading.
0:20:52 > 0:20:57"The Truth About The Navy, by One who Knows the Facts.
0:20:57 > 0:21:01"Britain is short of everything from battleships to torpedo boats,
0:21:01 > 0:21:03"there are not enough trained men able to fight,
0:21:03 > 0:21:05"and the guns aren't good enough.
0:21:05 > 0:21:11"Our guns actually fitted are inferior both in weight and in power to those of France and Italy.
0:21:12 > 0:21:14"And the conclusion is very simple.
0:21:14 > 0:21:21"I have shown that on almost all important points the truth about the Navy is that our naval supremacy
0:21:21 > 0:21:23"has almost ceased to exist."
0:21:25 > 0:21:28But to the Victorians, this would have been absolutely shocking.
0:21:28 > 0:21:33They were raised on the idea of British maritime invincibility.
0:21:35 > 0:21:41Fisher's propaganda played on the nation's fears and had exactly the impact he wanted.
0:21:41 > 0:21:47The suggestion that Nelson's heritage had been squandered was a horrifying concept,
0:21:47 > 0:21:50one that was picked up by the national newspapers.
0:21:50 > 0:21:53The public went up in arms.
0:21:53 > 0:21:56The Daily Telegraph called it,
0:21:56 > 0:22:01"A cry of patriotic anxiety to which no minister can close his ears."
0:22:01 > 0:22:05The Pall Mall Gazette articles prompted a new sense of fear and insecurity
0:22:05 > 0:22:11and the British people reacted by seizing on to a new, more aggressive form of nationalism.
0:22:11 > 0:22:14As one popular music hall song put it at the time,
0:22:14 > 0:22:19"We don't want to fight, but by jingo, if we do, we've got the ships, we've got the men,
0:22:19 > 0:22:21"and we've got the money too."
0:22:21 > 0:22:28Jingoism was born, a response to the British anxiety about losing their dominant world position.
0:22:28 > 0:22:33And what was the symbol of this new mood? Well, the navy, of course.
0:22:33 > 0:22:38The navy was used to advertise everything from mustard to chocolate.
0:22:38 > 0:22:41Sailors were emblazoned across cigarette packets
0:22:41 > 0:22:44and "ironclad" became the brand name of choice
0:22:44 > 0:22:46for anything British made.
0:22:49 > 0:22:52Eventually, the Government crumbled under public pressure.
0:22:52 > 0:22:58In 1889, they invested an astonishing £21 million in the navy.
0:22:58 > 0:23:00Enough to make it more than twice the size
0:23:00 > 0:23:05of her two greatest rivals, France and Russia.
0:23:07 > 0:23:09This was such an important victory for public opinion
0:23:09 > 0:23:12in what was fast becoming a modern democratic society,
0:23:12 > 0:23:16a society with mass circulation newspapers and journals,
0:23:16 > 0:23:20their column inches filled by talk of the Navy,
0:23:20 > 0:23:23its commanders, its weapons and its men.
0:23:28 > 0:23:33The Navy may have secured more money for its fleet but it had yet to deal with another problem.
0:23:33 > 0:23:40Since Trafalgar, its men had had little experience of full scale conflict.
0:23:42 > 0:23:47The skills that had made Nelson's navy great were slowly being lost.
0:23:50 > 0:23:55Henry Capper joined a training ship in 1869, aged 14.
0:23:55 > 0:23:59He started on the very bottom rung of the ladder, as a rating.
0:24:01 > 0:24:05A uniform was introduced for the first time to the lower ranks in 1857,
0:24:05 > 0:24:08and it hasn't changed much since.
0:24:08 > 0:24:15The square collar was copied from the sailors' suits worn aboard the Royal Yacht, and it's still in use.
0:24:18 > 0:24:21Despite their smart appearance, Capper thought these uniforms
0:24:21 > 0:24:24reinforced what he described as a caste system.
0:24:24 > 0:24:28He said that nothing could more clearly indicate the wide gulf
0:24:28 > 0:24:31that existed between himself and the officers,
0:24:31 > 0:24:36and Capper noticed this gulf because his lifetime ambition was to become an officer.
0:24:36 > 0:24:40Yeah, go on, not far to go now. Come on. Take over him.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43We do not want to lose this, guys.
0:24:43 > 0:24:45Stretch it, you can reach that now.
0:24:45 > 0:24:46Off you get. Next one just go.
0:24:48 > 0:24:51Good effort, Tayloridge. Good, Cooke, well done.
0:24:51 > 0:24:56Today, ratings can advance through the service based on individual merit.
0:24:56 > 0:24:58Come on, let's go!
0:24:58 > 0:24:59Drive it on, come on...
0:24:59 > 0:25:05In Capper's time, the only way men could prove themselves was through acts of gallantry in battle.
0:25:06 > 0:25:13With no major wars to fight, these opportunities were so rare, that in 80 years,
0:25:13 > 0:25:17only two men from the lower ranks made it into the officer class.
0:25:23 > 0:25:28Capper wrote this account of his life in the navy, and he describes all the snubs and humiliations
0:25:28 > 0:25:31that he was forced to endure during his attempts to become an officer.
0:25:31 > 0:25:35Summed up by this passage here, when a mother of a lieutenant says to him,
0:25:35 > 0:25:37"You've chosen the wrong service.
0:25:37 > 0:25:41"The Navy belongs to us, and if you were to win the commissions you ask for,
0:25:41 > 0:25:45"it would be at the expense of our sons and nephews whose birthright it is."
0:25:45 > 0:25:48The message here is clear.
0:25:48 > 0:25:52If you began life as a rating, you had no chance of reaching the top.
0:25:55 > 0:26:00Capper called the lack of incentive "soul deadening".
0:26:00 > 0:26:05The navy was beginning to stagnate, and it was losing what had always been one of its greatest strengths,
0:26:05 > 0:26:08a rough and ready meritocracy where anyone could get ahead.
0:26:10 > 0:26:14In wartime it had been easy for talented men to shine.
0:26:14 > 0:26:18In peace, the entrenched hierarchy was everything.
0:26:18 > 0:26:23The class system and rulebook were smothering any spark of initiative.
0:26:27 > 0:26:32The flaws of this mindset were about to be revealed, with tragic consequences.
0:26:35 > 0:26:40Admiral Sir George Tryon was one of the most famous commanders of his era.
0:26:40 > 0:26:46Charismatic, larger than life, the embodiment of an old seadog.
0:26:48 > 0:26:55In 1893, he held that most prized role in the Navy, Commander of the Mediterranean Fleet.
0:26:57 > 0:27:02Tryon liked to test his crews by ordering them to carry out intricate manoeuvres.
0:27:06 > 0:27:08MAN: Can't see anything out at 11 miles.
0:27:08 > 0:27:09Watch reported at six.
0:27:11 > 0:27:15On one evening in June, he was leading 11 of his finest warships
0:27:15 > 0:27:18off the coast of Tripoli in southern Lebanon.
0:27:24 > 0:27:28In order to get his fleet into a position where they could anchor for the evening,
0:27:28 > 0:27:32Tryon decided to carry out a particularly complicated manoeuvre,
0:27:32 > 0:27:34but he didn't tell anyone what it was.
0:27:34 > 0:27:38He just sent out a series of flag signals from the deck of his ship.
0:27:40 > 0:27:42First, Tryon, aboard HMS Victoria,
0:27:42 > 0:27:47instructed his fleet to form two columns steaming parallel to each other.
0:27:49 > 0:27:52Then he ordered the two columns to turn inwards
0:27:52 > 0:27:55so that they would end up heading in the opposite direction.
0:28:01 > 0:28:06The problem was that big ships like this need a huge amount of space to turn.
0:28:06 > 0:28:10Tryon's two lines of ships needed to be about a kilometre and a half apart
0:28:10 > 0:28:15in order to carry out the manoeuvre safely, but they weren't.
0:28:15 > 0:28:19Admiral Markham, who was leading the second column, knew this, and he hesitated,
0:28:19 > 0:28:23but Tryon sent him another order, saying, "What are you waiting for?"
0:28:23 > 0:28:27Markham decided to follow his orders and turned his ship.
0:28:31 > 0:28:35Markham forged forward towards Tryon's flagship.
0:28:41 > 0:28:46At the last minute, both desperately tried to reverse but it was too late.
0:28:49 > 0:28:54With sickening inevitability, the two ships ploughed into each other.
0:28:56 > 0:29:00Markham's battering ram pierced the side of Tryon's ship.
0:29:03 > 0:29:07Within just a few minutes, the foredeck was submerged.
0:29:07 > 0:29:11Even though their ship was sinking under them, many of the 600 men on board
0:29:11 > 0:29:15fell in to their neat ranks, waiting for orders.
0:29:15 > 0:29:18Only when they were commanded to do so, did they jump overboard.
0:29:21 > 0:29:27From a nearby ship, one eye witness reported what happened next.
0:29:27 > 0:29:34"As HMS Victoria went, the boats and weights on her port side fell over to leeward with a terrible crash.
0:29:34 > 0:29:41"The ship then turned keel up, and something after a minute after this, she sank out of sight."
0:29:43 > 0:29:48Half the crew, 358 men, were drowned.
0:29:48 > 0:29:53Some were trapped on board, some dragged under, others couldn't swim.
0:29:55 > 0:29:57Tryon went down with his ship.
0:29:57 > 0:30:01His last reported words were, "It was all my fault."
0:30:18 > 0:30:23The news that HMS Victoria had been sunk by another ship in Her Majesty's Navy
0:30:23 > 0:30:28was received with shock and amazement.
0:30:28 > 0:30:31It was the worst naval disaster in decades.
0:30:34 > 0:30:39With the death of Tryon, Britain had lost a national hero.
0:30:39 > 0:30:45As one newspaper put it, "the angel of sorrow hovered over the land."
0:30:45 > 0:30:49Key officers involved in the accident were to be court-martialled.
0:31:00 > 0:31:05To get away from the media spotlight, the trial was held out here in Malta.
0:31:05 > 0:31:09It was an old three-deck wooden warship called HMS Hibernia which
0:31:09 > 0:31:12was moored up just there, on the other side of Valetta Harbour.
0:31:14 > 0:31:16The question at the heart of the enquiry
0:31:16 > 0:31:20was whether Tryon was to blame for issuing a dangerous command,
0:31:20 > 0:31:25or whether it was Markham's fault for blindly obeying an order that he knew could lead to disaster.
0:31:25 > 0:31:30And that was an issue that split not just the Royal Navy but public opinion back in Britain.
0:31:33 > 0:31:38On the third day of the court-martial, Markham appeared in the witness stand.
0:31:39 > 0:31:41Markham tried to defend himself.
0:31:41 > 0:31:45He claimed that he'd been convinced that Tryon would have something else
0:31:45 > 0:31:48up his sleeve and order a further change of course.
0:31:48 > 0:31:51But for many people this was an inadequate excuse.
0:31:55 > 0:32:01Markham was a rear admiral with 40 years of experience in the navy.
0:32:01 > 0:32:04He was second in command of the Mediterranean fleet,
0:32:04 > 0:32:09responsible for some of Britain's finest ships and thousands of her men.
0:32:10 > 0:32:16Surely, he should have realised how dangerous Tryon's signal had been and disobeyed the order?
0:32:21 > 0:32:25The Victorian sailors had been indoctrinated by a culture
0:32:25 > 0:32:27that placed enormous emphasis on discipline.
0:32:27 > 0:32:29Orders must be obeyed.
0:32:29 > 0:32:32For many, Markham had simply been doing his duty.
0:32:34 > 0:32:41Commenting on the trial, the Queen herself wrote in her private journal that to say that inferiors should
0:32:41 > 0:32:46disobey in the event of anything very dangerous taking place would never do.
0:32:49 > 0:32:54After ten days, the verdict was delivered.
0:32:54 > 0:32:59This is a copy of the conclusion of the trial, and it says that the court finds,
0:32:59 > 0:33:03with the deepest sorry and regret, that the collision was due to an order
0:33:03 > 0:33:09given by Sir George Tryon, clearly placing the blame for the loss of the Victoria on his shoulders.
0:33:09 > 0:33:14Now, about Markham it says that it would be fatal to the best interests of the service
0:33:14 > 0:33:18to say he was to blame for carrying out the directions of the Commander in Chief,
0:33:18 > 0:33:20letting him off the hook.
0:33:24 > 0:33:28The sinking of the Victoria could have been an opportunity to fix
0:33:28 > 0:33:31some of the problems that afflicted the Victorian navy,
0:33:31 > 0:33:36but this verdict showed that obedience was valued higher than thinking for yourself.
0:33:36 > 0:33:41From now on, it was even more important to do what you were told than to do what was right.
0:33:41 > 0:33:46Nothing could have been more different to the career of the man who naval officers regarded
0:33:46 > 0:33:50as an icon, Horatio Nelson, whose name they remembered
0:33:50 > 0:33:55but whose qualities for risk taking and initiative they had forgotten.
0:33:57 > 0:34:04Nowhere was this blind worship of Nelson more apparent than at an important new barracks back at home.
0:34:14 > 0:34:18They were built in Portsmouth in 1903.
0:34:29 > 0:34:33This is the mess, the officers' mess, the canteen, if you like,
0:34:33 > 0:34:36where all the officers that lived and worked in Portsmouth would have eaten,
0:34:36 > 0:34:43and sitting here amongst your brother officers, there was no doubt as to what was expected of you.
0:34:51 > 0:34:53It certainly does not feel like a canteen.
0:34:53 > 0:34:57It feels like a religious space, a shrine to Britain's naval greatness.
0:34:57 > 0:35:00Take the ceiling, for example, these massive oak beams.
0:35:00 > 0:35:07That is actually the shape of HMS Victory's hull, the most famous battleship in British history.
0:35:11 > 0:35:15And then on the walls, these incredible murals on an epic scale,
0:35:15 > 0:35:20depicting all the greatest moments in British maritime history.
0:35:20 > 0:35:22Of course, down here, we have Nelson,
0:35:22 > 0:35:25the greatest admiral of them all.
0:35:27 > 0:35:31This room tells you so much about the Royal Navy
0:35:31 > 0:35:36at the start of the 20th century, the way its officers were surrounded by images of a glorious past.
0:35:36 > 0:35:41But the problem was, these victories were 100 years old, and the world had moved on.
0:35:41 > 0:35:47Britain was no longer the only modern industrial power.
0:35:47 > 0:35:54The technological lead that the country had enjoyed for so much of the 19th century had been lost.
0:35:54 > 0:36:01As the industrial revolution spread, a new era of aggressive national rivalry dawned.
0:36:02 > 0:36:09As a boy, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany had dreamt of one day building a fleet
0:36:09 > 0:36:12to match that of his grandmother, Queen Victoria.
0:36:15 > 0:36:21By the turn of the century, Germany had a fleet of 38 battleships planned.
0:36:26 > 0:36:30To the British, this could mean only one thing.
0:36:30 > 0:36:35As the First Lord of the Admiralty wrote in 1902,
0:36:35 > 0:36:39"the new German navy is being built up for war with us."
0:36:41 > 0:36:46A radical overhaul of the navy was now an urgent matter of national security,
0:36:46 > 0:36:48and the man the Admiralty turned to in this crisis
0:36:48 > 0:36:52was acting as Commander in Chief down here in Portsmouth.
0:36:52 > 0:36:56The man of the moment was Admiral Jacky Fisher.
0:37:00 > 0:37:04Fisher had come a long way since his days on the Inflexible.
0:37:04 > 0:37:07He'd tirelessly worked his way up to the rank of admiral, and in 1904
0:37:07 > 0:37:11he landed the top job in the navy, First Sea Lord.
0:37:16 > 0:37:21Fisher was well aware of the magnitude of the task that he faced, and he spent the months before
0:37:21 > 0:37:27taking up office down in Portsmouth writing this, a manifesto of everything he hoped to achieve.
0:37:27 > 0:37:31He had it bound up and called Naval Necessities, and this is a copy here.
0:37:33 > 0:37:38It's a wonderful document, because it's a direct transcription of Fisher's actual handwriting,
0:37:38 > 0:37:41and they've replicated all the underlinings, the capitalisations,
0:37:41 > 0:37:46the italics, and particularly the exclamation marks, and the entire text is littered with them.
0:37:46 > 0:37:50You really get a sense of Fisher the man, his enthusiasm,
0:37:50 > 0:37:54his eccentricity, and above all his energy and his passion for the navy.
0:37:54 > 0:38:01There's one essential passage here that I think really gets the heart of Fisher's world view.
0:38:01 > 0:38:05He writes, "The British Empire floats on the British navy,
0:38:05 > 0:38:11"so we must have no doubt whatever about its fighting supremacy and its instant readiness for war."
0:38:11 > 0:38:15He wants to call back all of Britain's obsolete ships from
0:38:15 > 0:38:18every corner of the Empire and sell them for scrap.
0:38:18 > 0:38:23And then there's a raft of other measures like defending naval ports, and a complete shake up in the
0:38:23 > 0:38:26way that ships signal to each other at sea.
0:38:27 > 0:38:29Fisher called this "The Scheme."
0:38:29 > 0:38:35This was nothing less than a root and branch reform of the navy, and he writes here,
0:38:35 > 0:38:41"We must have the Scheme, the whole Scheme, and nothing but the Scheme."
0:38:50 > 0:38:54It's easy to see why some people thought that Fisher was a bit of a warmonger.
0:38:54 > 0:39:00I mean, one of his favourite expressions was, "Hit first, hit hard, and keep hitting."
0:39:02 > 0:39:06But actually he saw himself as a man of peace.
0:39:06 > 0:39:09His guiding principal is carved here above the door.
0:39:09 > 0:39:14"Si vis pacem, para bellum."
0:39:14 > 0:39:18That means, "If you want peace, prepare for war."
0:39:18 > 0:39:22His idea was to build the navy up into such an unassailable force
0:39:22 > 0:39:25that no-one would dare to take it on.
0:39:25 > 0:39:27It was peace through deterrence.
0:39:32 > 0:39:36Fisher also had a plan to build a ship.
0:39:36 > 0:39:40It would be the largest ever produced in one of Britain's dockyards.
0:39:49 > 0:39:53It would be the centrepiece of what he liked to call "the fleet that Jack built".
0:39:55 > 0:39:59And he warned people to get ready for a shock.
0:40:06 > 0:40:09These plans are very beautiful. I love all the different
0:40:09 > 0:40:13colours they've used to shade in the different compartments and boats.
0:40:13 > 0:40:17The Admiralty used the scale of a quarter inch to one foot for all its plans, and
0:40:17 > 0:40:21with brilliant consistency they never changed this, so as the ships got bigger
0:40:21 > 0:40:24the plans got bigger as well. This one's absolutely gigantic.
0:40:24 > 0:40:28This wonderful profile here allows us to see what was so
0:40:28 > 0:40:31revolutionary about the ship, and that was its fire power.
0:40:31 > 0:40:34It was appropriate that the British, who had done so much to develop
0:40:34 > 0:40:39the use of guns on ships, should now bring it up to this great crescendo.
0:40:39 > 0:40:42No other ship in the world had more than four 12-inch guns.
0:40:42 > 0:40:48This one mounted ten of them in five turrets, here.
0:40:48 > 0:40:52When this ship fired its broadside, it sent over three tonnes of steel
0:40:52 > 0:40:55and high explosives towards the enemy.
0:40:55 > 0:41:01These thick black lines along the outside of the hull are actually armour plates.
0:41:01 > 0:41:05This ship had 5,000 tonnes of armour, 800 more than any other ship in the world.
0:41:05 > 0:41:11And the hull was divided up into all these compartments here, which were watertight.
0:41:11 > 0:41:15In fact, they're even called watertight compartments here.
0:41:15 > 0:41:18This ship really was intended to be unsinkable.
0:41:18 > 0:41:24It's the culmination of around a century of unprecedented innovation in ship design.
0:41:26 > 0:41:29Fisher chose the name of this new ship with great care.
0:41:29 > 0:41:34He wanted something that would invoke the glorious tradition of the Royal Navy,
0:41:34 > 0:41:36and he decided on Dreadnought.
0:41:39 > 0:41:43Elizabeth I had named one of her ships Dreadnought, and had fought against the Spanish Armada.
0:41:43 > 0:41:47There had been a Dreadnought with Nelson at Trafalgar.
0:41:47 > 0:41:49Now there was a new Dreadnought.
0:41:51 > 0:41:54It was a name with history.
0:41:54 > 0:42:00Construction began on 2nd October 1905.
0:42:00 > 0:42:05Under top secret conditions, 3,000 men worked 11 hours a day,
0:42:05 > 0:42:09six days a week, in the Portsmouth royal dockyard.
0:42:09 > 0:42:15With record-breaking speed, the first Dreadnought was completed just a year and a day later.
0:42:18 > 0:42:23Dreadnought was designed to give Britain an unassailable lead over her enemies.
0:42:24 > 0:42:30But in a world where other nations now had the shipbuilding capacity to match Britain,
0:42:30 > 0:42:36one radical new ship was no longer enough to guarantee the navy's advantage for long.
0:42:38 > 0:42:43The problem was the Dreadnought was so powerful and it made every other battleship in the world obsolete.
0:42:43 > 0:42:49Britain had effectively wiped out its own naval advantage by creating a new level playing field.
0:42:49 > 0:42:54Now all a rival had to do to overtake Britain was start building its own Dreadnoughts.
0:42:54 > 0:42:59One nation seized on this opportunity - Germany.
0:42:59 > 0:43:04The Dreadnought, far from deterring the enemy, actually ignited a new
0:43:04 > 0:43:09arms race, and this time the stakes would be higher than ever before.
0:43:13 > 0:43:17The Germans could build six Dreadnoughts a year.
0:43:17 > 0:43:21Not to be outdone, Fisher drove a vigorous campaign to
0:43:21 > 0:43:27double Britain's construction from four to eight Dreadnoughts per year.
0:43:29 > 0:43:34The Liberal government under Herbert Asquith had been determined to reduce
0:43:34 > 0:43:38naval expenditure in favour of social reform.
0:43:38 > 0:43:43But in 1909, he caved in to Fisher's demands for eight Dreadnoughts
0:43:43 > 0:43:46because Europe was in the grip of Dreadnought-building fever.
0:43:49 > 0:43:54Austria was planning three of the mighty battleships. Italy, four.
0:43:57 > 0:44:03The threat was seen as so dangerous that by 1910 a quarter of all public expenditure
0:44:03 > 0:44:05was going to the Admiralty.
0:44:08 > 0:44:15Fisher finally retired after five tumultuous years at the very top of the navy, but he'd won his battle.
0:44:15 > 0:44:19As the last of the Dreadnoughts that he'd planned rolled off the slipway,
0:44:19 > 0:44:22it was clear that Britain had trumped Germany.
0:44:22 > 0:44:30By 1914, Britain had 42 Dreadnoughts built or planned to Germany's 26.
0:44:32 > 0:44:37The Germans gave up on their plans of overtaking Britain.
0:44:37 > 0:44:41Fisher's policy of peace through deterrence seemed to be working.
0:44:47 > 0:44:52On 20th June 1914, a fleet of British Dreadnoughts headed to Germany.
0:44:54 > 0:45:01The Royal Navy had been invited to attend a sailing regatta on the north German coast.
0:45:01 > 0:45:06The event, called Kiel Week, is still held today.
0:45:06 > 0:45:11Kiel Week is yet another example of the Kaiser's obsession with all things British.
0:45:11 > 0:45:16Having borrowed the design of ships and uniforms in the Royal Navy, he even imported a week-long
0:45:16 > 0:45:22sailing regatta, modelled on Cowes Week, the highlight of the British sailing calendar.
0:45:22 > 0:45:29But things here were a bit different because Kiel was the home of the Imperial German navy and, unlike
0:45:29 > 0:45:35relaxed Cowes, this event was a bit more formal, a bit more militaristic.
0:45:35 > 0:45:39The arrival of the Royal Navy ships caused a sensation.
0:45:42 > 0:45:44Flotillas of boats sailed out to greet the fleet.
0:45:47 > 0:45:49WHISTLE BLOWS
0:45:52 > 0:45:55The German navy laid on a week-long programme of entertainments,
0:45:55 > 0:46:00banquets, dances, garden parties and football.
0:46:02 > 0:46:03Eyes to the right.
0:46:05 > 0:46:09One German officer observed everyone mixing at close quarters.
0:46:09 > 0:46:12Now we are 176.
0:46:12 > 0:46:15- Yes.- Cheers.- Cheers.
0:46:15 > 0:46:17They were very soon good friends.
0:46:19 > 0:46:20We enjoyed the Kiel Week.
0:46:20 > 0:46:23At all the balls and dinners the young English officers could
0:46:23 > 0:46:31be seen getting on famously with the German officers and flirting zealously with the German ladies.
0:46:33 > 0:46:36But the British weren't just here to have a good time.
0:46:38 > 0:46:43The night before the fleet left Britain, the admiral in command issued a secret memorandum
0:46:43 > 0:46:45from his flagship.
0:46:45 > 0:46:48He said that all the officers were to obtain all the information they can
0:46:48 > 0:46:53about the latest German weapons systems and state of the art equipment. It's a fascinating list.
0:46:53 > 0:46:59He says to particularly look out for gunnery fittings, torpedo fittings, signalling and wireless telegraphy.
0:46:59 > 0:47:02Clearly, this mission was about a lot more than diplomacy.
0:47:04 > 0:47:09The British, of course, were here to spy and the Germans knew it.
0:47:09 > 0:47:11They had spies of their own.
0:47:12 > 0:47:15But it was clearly no reason to stop the regatta.
0:47:15 > 0:47:16WHISTLES SOUNDS
0:47:19 > 0:47:23In fact, nothing, it seemed, could end the fun.
0:47:26 > 0:47:30Then, on 28th June 1914, as the Kaiser was racing his yacht,
0:47:30 > 0:47:35The Meteor, just out there, a messenger approached on a boat, bearing bad news.
0:47:35 > 0:47:41Earlier that day, the Kaiser's friend and ally, the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand,
0:47:41 > 0:47:44had been shot and killed in Sarajevo.
0:47:45 > 0:47:48The British ships stayed for another day of festivities.
0:47:49 > 0:47:55When it was time for them to leave, their hosts issued a signal wishing them a pleasant journey.
0:47:57 > 0:48:04The British replied, "Friends today, friends tomorrow, friends for ever."
0:48:04 > 0:48:05Cheers.
0:48:05 > 0:48:08Cheers.
0:48:09 > 0:48:13Yet, just six weeks after making this promise,
0:48:13 > 0:48:18the British navy would be at war with their German hosts.
0:48:21 > 0:48:26The fleet that Jack built was about to be tested in battle for the first time.
0:48:37 > 0:48:43HMS Caroline is a cruiser, and one of the last ships to survive form the First World War.
0:48:43 > 0:48:48She was built in record time and launched in September 1914.
0:48:48 > 0:48:51Three months later, she headed to Scapa Flow in Orkney
0:48:51 > 0:48:56to join Britain's grand fleet under the command of John Jellicoe.
0:48:56 > 0:48:59He was the man Fisher had chosen to be, as he put it,
0:48:59 > 0:49:04"Admiralissimo when the battle of Armageddon comes along."
0:49:05 > 0:49:12That day finally dawned on 31st May 1916, when the German high seas fleet
0:49:12 > 0:49:18steamed out of their ports, hoping to lure one of Jellicoe's squadrons into battle.
0:49:18 > 0:49:23The British intercepted enemy signals and knew about the trap.
0:49:23 > 0:49:28HMS Caroline and the rest of the fleet left their bases to meet the Germans.
0:49:28 > 0:49:35The two fleets would finally clash in the North Sea, near Denmark, just west of Jutland.
0:49:37 > 0:49:43When the war began, the British people expected their beloved navy to fight and win another Trafalgar.
0:49:43 > 0:49:47Even though it had been 100 years before, it was still the only benchmark they had
0:49:47 > 0:49:49for a naval battle of this kind.
0:49:49 > 0:49:54The trouble was, since Trafalgar, war at sea had changed beyond all recognition.
0:49:54 > 0:49:58No-one, not even Jellicoe, had any experience of fighting on ships like this.
0:50:02 > 0:50:08One German officer recounted seeing the British fleet for the first time.
0:50:08 > 0:50:15"Suddenly, my periscope revealed some big ships, black monsters, six tall broad-beamed giants,
0:50:15 > 0:50:23"steaming in two columns, and even at this great distance they looked powerful, massive."
0:50:23 > 0:50:29But, despite first impressions, things very quickly began to go wrong for Jellicoe.
0:50:29 > 0:50:36For centuries, admirals have signalled their orders to their fleet using these, signal flags.
0:50:36 > 0:50:40Now, each have a separate meaning, both individually and when used together.
0:50:40 > 0:50:45Now, this is fine at the Battle of Trafalgar when the ships were just a few metres apart,
0:50:45 > 0:50:51but at Jutland, Jellicoe was commanding over 100 vessels spread over tens of miles of ocean.
0:50:51 > 0:50:55To make matters worse all the smoke from these funnels would have obscured the flags
0:50:55 > 0:50:59and made it really impossible to read what the admiral was ordering.
0:50:59 > 0:51:02It was an outdated system in a modern world.
0:51:04 > 0:51:10One admiral, Evan Thomas, couldn't read the signals of his commanding officer.
0:51:10 > 0:51:14Unthinkingly, he led his squadron off in the wrong direction.
0:51:17 > 0:51:19Although he eventually turned them round,
0:51:19 > 0:51:23four of the most powerful ships in the world were unable to get
0:51:23 > 0:51:27close enough to the action for the opening critical encounter.
0:51:33 > 0:51:37The problems could have been solved by a brand new invention.
0:51:38 > 0:51:42Radio sets had recently been installed on the ships and they
0:51:42 > 0:51:45should have helped with communication but, like many forms of new technology,
0:51:45 > 0:51:51they also caused a lot of confusion, and some commanders simply didn't bother using them.
0:51:52 > 0:51:54Battle commenced at 3.20.
0:51:54 > 0:51:58Throughout, Jellicoe was left in the dark.
0:51:58 > 0:52:03He later said, "the whole situation was difficult to grasp, and we could hardly
0:52:03 > 0:52:09"see anything except flashes of guns, shells falling and ships blowing up."
0:52:15 > 0:52:21At 4 o'clock, the first British battle cruiser was destroyed.
0:52:21 > 0:52:2520 minutes later, Queen Mary exploded with tremendous force,
0:52:25 > 0:52:28debris soaring hundreds of feet into the air.
0:52:28 > 0:52:321,200 men were killed instantly.
0:52:42 > 0:52:45But this wasn't caused by some German super-weapon.
0:52:45 > 0:52:49This was an avoidable error.
0:52:49 > 0:52:56Protective doors had been installed to prevent fire spreading from one area of the ship to another.
0:52:56 > 0:53:01But to decrease the time it took for ammunition to be passed up from the magazines to the guns,
0:53:01 > 0:53:04British sailors kept the doors open.
0:53:05 > 0:53:10What happened was that German shells would hit the upper deck, cause an explosion.
0:53:10 > 0:53:15It would send a white sheet of flame tearing through the middle of the ship until it ignited
0:53:15 > 0:53:17the magazine down here.
0:53:17 > 0:53:22Three British battleships in particular were blown apart in this way.
0:53:22 > 0:53:26One ship had only two survivors and 1,000 men killed.
0:53:31 > 0:53:35For part of the battle, HMS Caroline was in the thick of it.
0:53:35 > 0:53:40As the fighting raged, the helmsman would have been sent below.
0:53:45 > 0:53:47Down here, deep below the water line,
0:53:47 > 0:53:53where eight of the strongest men on board would have steered the ship, that hatch would have been locked.
0:53:53 > 0:53:57Their only connection with the outside world was this mechanism here,
0:53:57 > 0:54:02which transmitted the orders of the officers in command of the ship high up on the bridge,
0:54:02 > 0:54:05telling these men which course to steer.
0:54:05 > 0:54:09If the ship was hit, they had absolutely no chance of escape.
0:54:09 > 0:54:14These low lights would have just died, it would have been pitch black.
0:54:14 > 0:54:19Water would have started to come in through these joins in the steel plates.
0:54:19 > 0:54:23When you come down here, you realise that warfare was just as terrifying,
0:54:23 > 0:54:28just as deadly, out here at sea, as it was in the trenches on the Western Front.
0:54:32 > 0:54:35By dawn the next day, the British had lost three
0:54:35 > 0:54:42fast, powerful battle cruisers for only one of Germany's, and the British had lost twice as many men.
0:54:42 > 0:54:47Many British shells had broken up rather than penetrate German armour,
0:54:47 > 0:54:49and British use of intelligence had been woeful.
0:54:51 > 0:54:55When Jacky Fisher heard reports of the battle, he said, "They failed me.
0:54:55 > 0:55:01"I've spent 30 years of my life preparing for this day, and they failed me."
0:55:04 > 0:55:09In the end, Jutland would be considered a British strategic victory.
0:55:09 > 0:55:14The sheer size of Jellicoe's fleet stopped the Germans from ever
0:55:14 > 0:55:18attempting to take on the British in the same way again.
0:55:18 > 0:55:22But the Germans had exposed weaknesses in that British fleet.
0:55:22 > 0:55:28Jutland had not been the knockout blow the British public had hoped for.
0:55:34 > 0:55:40After Jutland, the Kaiser exultantly declared, "The spell of Trafalgar is broken."
0:55:40 > 0:55:42And, in a way, he had a point.
0:55:42 > 0:55:45The Navy had failed to land the knockout blow that they'd achieved
0:55:45 > 0:55:50100 years before, but he was also right unintentionally in another way.
0:55:50 > 0:55:52There would be no more Trafalgars.
0:55:52 > 0:55:57Jutland was the last battle decided by big-gunned warships alone.
0:55:57 > 0:56:02Below the waves and in the skies above, new weapons would now decide
0:56:02 > 0:56:05the outcome of war at sea, and help defeat Germany.
0:56:05 > 0:56:12But the dominance of battleships, so long a symbol of national might, was over.
0:56:12 > 0:56:17Britain emerged from the war victorious but exhausted and broke,
0:56:17 > 0:56:21and her navy was finally forced to give up its determination
0:56:21 > 0:56:24to maintain by far the world's largest fleet.
0:56:24 > 0:56:27In time, other nations eclipsed Britain.
0:56:27 > 0:56:32It was the end of centuries of naval supremacy.
0:56:34 > 0:56:41Four centuries before, the navy had set a tiny impoverished kingdom on the path to greatness.
0:56:41 > 0:56:46In time, it had transformed Britain into the most powerful empire in
0:56:46 > 0:56:49history, with enormous consequences for the rest of the world.
0:56:49 > 0:56:54There was slavery, conquest, and war on a titanic scale.
0:56:56 > 0:56:59But the navy also ensured that Britain would preserve its
0:56:59 > 0:57:03independence and its unique economic and political systems.
0:57:03 > 0:57:07Its ships protected a vast trade that made Britain wealthy and
0:57:07 > 0:57:14sparked revolutions in agriculture, industry and finance which changed Britain and the world for ever.
0:57:14 > 0:57:20The navy pioneered new sciences and reinvented our understanding of the world we live in,
0:57:20 > 0:57:23and they made the sea and seafaring an integral part
0:57:23 > 0:57:28of our culture and national identity.
0:57:31 > 0:57:33And today, just as they've done for centuries,
0:57:33 > 0:57:39the ships of the Royal Navy continue to defend Britain's shores and protect her sea lanes.
0:57:41 > 0:57:45Everywhere I go, I see evidence of what the navy has left behind.
0:57:45 > 0:57:51Its ships allowed this country to have an impact far beyond the confines of the British Isles.
0:57:51 > 0:57:56The modern world is built on foundations laid by the Royal Navy.
0:58:23 > 0:58:26Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:26 > 0:58:29E-mail: subtitling@bbc.co.uk