0:00:07 > 0:00:09One hammer. One bag.
0:00:12 > 0:00:16In the years before the Great War, Britain had devoted little effort
0:00:16 > 0:00:20to the threat that might one day emerge from German U-boats.
0:00:23 > 0:00:27Submarine counter-measures were somewhat less than sophisticated.
0:00:27 > 0:00:30Small boats were to patrol the coast.
0:00:30 > 0:00:32In the event that they saw a submarine,
0:00:32 > 0:00:35or rather saw a submarine's periscope,
0:00:35 > 0:00:39they were to follow one of two suggested strategies.
0:00:40 > 0:00:45Strategy number one - smash the periscope's lens with their hammer.
0:00:47 > 0:00:49Strategy number two -
0:00:49 > 0:00:52cover the periscope's lens with their bag.
0:00:54 > 0:00:57Early submarines were not taken seriously.
0:00:57 > 0:01:00One British Admiral called them "playthings".
0:01:03 > 0:01:06The coming war, it was widely believed,
0:01:06 > 0:01:08would never be won by submarines.
0:01:08 > 0:01:11It would be won by big battleships and big guns.
0:01:14 > 0:01:16But after the Battle of Jutland,
0:01:16 > 0:01:20by the first week of June 1916, the battleship war was over.
0:01:22 > 0:01:25The surface warships of the Imperial German Navy
0:01:25 > 0:01:27would scarcely leave harbour again.
0:01:30 > 0:01:34But as the dreadnought war ended, the U-boat war intensified,
0:01:34 > 0:01:36dramatically.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39Germany's growing fleet of submarines
0:01:39 > 0:01:42was ordered to wipe out British shipping.
0:01:45 > 0:01:47We were losing 12 ships a day.
0:01:47 > 0:01:51And we couldn't possibly replace 12 ships a day.
0:01:54 > 0:01:56Britain was forced to develop devious
0:01:56 > 0:01:59and deadly strategies to defeat the U-boats.
0:02:02 > 0:02:04The German U-boats were no-one's "playthings".
0:02:04 > 0:02:08They brought Britain to the brink of surrender.
0:02:27 > 0:02:31Ten weeks into the war, at midday on the 18th of October 1914,
0:02:31 > 0:02:37the cargo ship Glitra departed Grangemouth harbour on the River Forth.
0:02:40 > 0:02:44She headed east, under the famous bridge and out to sea,
0:02:44 > 0:02:46bound for Stavanger in Norway.
0:02:52 > 0:02:55On board she carried a cargo of coal, iron and oil.
0:02:57 > 0:03:01Two days later and 14 miles off the Norwegian coast,
0:03:01 > 0:03:05she was ordered to stop by a surfaced German U-boat,
0:03:05 > 0:03:07the U17.
0:03:07 > 0:03:08The Germans came on board
0:03:08 > 0:03:11and ordered the crew to get into their lifeboats.
0:03:11 > 0:03:14Then they went below decks to open up the seacocks,
0:03:14 > 0:03:16to begin scuttling the ship.
0:03:16 > 0:03:18Finally, and amazingly,
0:03:18 > 0:03:21the Germans began to tow the lifeboats
0:03:21 > 0:03:23towards the Norwegian coast.
0:03:23 > 0:03:27The ship and its cargo lay at the bottom of the ocean,
0:03:27 > 0:03:32but no-one, absolutely no-one, had been hurt.
0:03:34 > 0:03:36It was all very gentlemanly,
0:03:36 > 0:03:40but the Glitra had just become the first British merchant ship
0:03:40 > 0:03:42to be sunk by a German U-boat.
0:03:45 > 0:03:49This was the first European submarine conflict,
0:03:49 > 0:03:52and the international rules of war were struggling to keep up.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58The laws of war were written in the late 19th century
0:03:58 > 0:04:01to protect civilians. It made a big distinction
0:04:01 > 0:04:04between those in uniform who were warriors,
0:04:04 > 0:04:07and those who were civilians and could not be attacked,
0:04:07 > 0:04:11in which case the submarine had a duty to come up,
0:04:11 > 0:04:12make itself apparent,
0:04:12 > 0:04:15warn the merchant ship that it was going to be attacked,
0:04:15 > 0:04:18give the merchant ship time to get the civilians off -
0:04:18 > 0:04:21the crew and the passengers -
0:04:21 > 0:04:25so that when they sunk the merchant ship, no lives would be lost.
0:04:25 > 0:04:27I believe they were called prize rules.
0:04:27 > 0:04:30They were called prize rules - that was the laws of war rule.
0:04:30 > 0:04:32They were called prize because the ship is a prize.
0:04:32 > 0:04:34If you look at it historically, of course,
0:04:34 > 0:04:37they're a prize because you want to take the cargo on board.
0:04:39 > 0:04:44Two weeks after U17 had sunk the Glitra and her cargo,
0:04:44 > 0:04:49Britain's First Sea Lord made a stark announcement to the international press.
0:04:51 > 0:04:54On the 2nd of November 1914, Admiral Fisher stated
0:04:54 > 0:04:58that the Royal Navy was assuming military control
0:04:58 > 0:05:00of the entire North Sea.
0:05:03 > 0:05:06The Germans reacted of course with outrage and shock,
0:05:06 > 0:05:10as if all Britain was doing was making clear the state of naval play at the time.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13When it came to the surface of the oceans, the British Navy
0:05:13 > 0:05:17had won the naval race from before the First World War.
0:05:17 > 0:05:19It could say what could travel
0:05:19 > 0:05:21on the top of the seas.
0:05:21 > 0:05:24If the Royal Navy controlled the surface of the ocean,
0:05:24 > 0:05:27is that what prompted the Germans to develop their submarine fleet?
0:05:27 > 0:05:30The submarine was actually developed by the Germans relatively late.
0:05:30 > 0:05:33I mean, they weren't the first people to develop the submarine.
0:05:33 > 0:05:35The submarine comes out of the American Civil War,
0:05:35 > 0:05:36when it's developed by the South,
0:05:36 > 0:05:40but it's the weapon of the smaller naval power against the larger naval power.
0:05:40 > 0:05:42That's the way to understand it.
0:05:47 > 0:05:52The larger naval power, Britain, had moved its navy to east coast bases.
0:05:54 > 0:05:56From there, it could patrol the North Sea,
0:05:56 > 0:05:59and seize cargos bound for German harbours.
0:06:03 > 0:06:06For their part, the German U-boats would attempt to evade
0:06:06 > 0:06:10those British patrols and hunt for incoming British cargo ships.
0:06:17 > 0:06:21In 1914, Britain imported two thirds of her food supplies.
0:06:21 > 0:06:26Also cotton for uniforms, timber for trenches and iron ore for guns.
0:06:30 > 0:06:33If the U-boats could sink enough British merchant ships,
0:06:33 > 0:06:38Britain could not remain at war.
0:06:43 > 0:06:48Germany's U-Boat fleet was small but its threat was real,
0:06:48 > 0:06:50and deadly.
0:06:52 > 0:06:54U-boats cruised on the surface.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57They could stay at sea for five weeks,
0:06:57 > 0:07:01and would attack undefended ships with their forward gun.
0:07:09 > 0:07:13They dived to attack bigger and better defended ships with torpedoes.
0:07:15 > 0:07:18Each U-boat carried at least six.
0:07:30 > 0:07:35Ironically, the early inspiration for these hunter-killer submarines
0:07:35 > 0:07:39had come from Germany's future enemy.
0:07:39 > 0:07:42It was the British who made popular the submarines
0:07:42 > 0:07:46all over the world, in the first years of the 20th century.
0:07:46 > 0:07:52Who used small coastal submarines as defensive weapons,
0:07:52 > 0:07:56as cheap defensive weapons, for coastal and harbour defence.
0:07:56 > 0:08:01But the development of the motor, especially the diesel motor,
0:08:01 > 0:08:06gave this new weapon a much longer range, so the submarine changed
0:08:06 > 0:08:12from coastal defence to a long range offensive weapon.
0:08:14 > 0:08:17What was life like aboard a German submarine?
0:08:17 > 0:08:22The submarine was full of machinery, of weapon systems,
0:08:22 > 0:08:28torpedo tubes, diesel electric motors, ammunition, and so on.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31It was smelling all the time, diesel, gas.
0:08:31 > 0:08:36The boat was wet inside so there was always some water coming in,
0:08:36 > 0:08:39when it was surfaced and so on.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42It was quite a stressing life for people on board.
0:08:45 > 0:08:50U-boats began the war following the gentlemanly prize rules.
0:08:50 > 0:08:52Rules that had saved the crew of the Glitra.
0:08:58 > 0:09:02But on the 4th of February 1915,
0:09:02 > 0:09:04at the naval base here in Wilhelmshaven,
0:09:04 > 0:09:07the German leader Kaiser Wilhelm
0:09:07 > 0:09:11signed an executive order that tore those rules apart.
0:09:13 > 0:09:15In translation it read,
0:09:15 > 0:09:19"From the 18th of February onwards, all enemy merchant ships
0:09:19 > 0:09:22"in the waters surrounding Great Britain and Ireland
0:09:22 > 0:09:25"will be destroyed, irrespective of the impossibility
0:09:25 > 0:09:30"of avoiding in all cases danger to passengers and crew."
0:09:30 > 0:09:32The polite war was over.
0:09:32 > 0:09:34The U-boat war had begun.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41It would be called unrestricted submarine warfare.
0:09:41 > 0:09:45Now, the men and boys who crewed British cargo ships
0:09:45 > 0:09:49and British liners were placed directly in the line of fire.
0:09:52 > 0:09:55And just three months after the Kaiser's announcement,
0:09:55 > 0:09:59British crewmen and British civilians would pay the ultimate price.
0:10:03 > 0:10:05On the 7th of May 1915,
0:10:05 > 0:10:10the Imperial Germany Navy had six U-boats at sea.
0:10:10 > 0:10:13Five in the waters around Scotland.
0:10:17 > 0:10:20And one, the U20, south of Ireland.
0:10:22 > 0:10:26Her captain, Walter Schweiger, had three torpedoes remaining.
0:10:30 > 0:10:32At 1.20pm,
0:10:32 > 0:10:36Schweiger saw a large four-funnelled passenger ship.
0:10:38 > 0:10:42What happened next would generate international revulsion
0:10:42 > 0:10:44against German U-boats,
0:10:44 > 0:10:48and would be felt in communities all across the world.
0:10:52 > 0:10:56So, Oliver, who are these individuals in the photographs?
0:10:56 > 0:10:59Well, this is James Aitken as a young man.
0:10:59 > 0:11:01Chrissie, who was the daughter, a 17-year-old,
0:11:01 > 0:11:04- was on deck with friends. - Is this Chrissie here?
0:11:04 > 0:11:06This is Chrissie, yes.
0:11:06 > 0:11:09Oliver Russell is a distant cousin of Chrissie Aitken.
0:11:09 > 0:11:13The family had emigrated to Canada in 1912,
0:11:13 > 0:11:16but when Chrissie's father fell ill in 1915,
0:11:16 > 0:11:20they headed back to the family farm at Innerleithen.
0:11:21 > 0:11:25They booked a ticket. I gather they booked a ticket in Chicago,
0:11:25 > 0:11:27so they probably travelled by train across Canada.
0:11:27 > 0:11:30They booked a ticket on the Cameronian,
0:11:30 > 0:11:33which was due to sail from New York on May 1st.
0:11:35 > 0:11:38In New York, the Cameronian was requisitioned
0:11:38 > 0:11:39by the British Government.
0:11:39 > 0:11:42The Aitkens were transferred to another liner.
0:11:45 > 0:11:48The Lusitania.
0:11:48 > 0:11:50Built in Clydebank in 1906,
0:11:50 > 0:11:52she had once been the biggest ship in the world.
0:11:54 > 0:11:57On the 1st of May, she departed for Liverpool
0:11:57 > 0:11:59with almost 2,000 people aboard.
0:12:02 > 0:12:06Passengers had been warned by German notices in American newspapers
0:12:06 > 0:12:09that they were sailing into danger.
0:12:14 > 0:12:16Six days out of New York,
0:12:16 > 0:12:19at 3:10pm in the afternoon of the 7th of May,
0:12:19 > 0:12:22at a distance of 765 yards,
0:12:22 > 0:12:26Captain Schweiger targeted the ship in his periscope
0:12:26 > 0:12:28and fired a single torpedo.
0:12:46 > 0:12:48Chrissie was on deck with friends,
0:12:48 > 0:12:50whereas the others, the three others,
0:12:50 > 0:12:53were downstairs finishing their lunch.
0:12:53 > 0:12:58The torpedo hit the ship.
0:12:58 > 0:13:03There was an explosion, there was a lot of smoke, a lot of dust.
0:13:03 > 0:13:07Chrissie rushed down from the deck to try and find her family,
0:13:07 > 0:13:13couldn't find them, and came up again to try to find what next to do.
0:13:13 > 0:13:17Chrissie sounds to me a remarkably quick-witted young woman.
0:13:17 > 0:13:20- Very brave.- Those are acts of great courage
0:13:20 > 0:13:22from someone so young - a 17-year-old girl.
0:13:25 > 0:13:27Chrissie didn't find her family.
0:13:27 > 0:13:31She abandoned ship and made it ashore.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34The next day she was asked to identify her father's body.
0:13:38 > 0:13:43Captain Schweiger's single torpedo claimed 1,198 lives.
0:13:43 > 0:13:47including Chrissie Aitken's father, brother, and his infant child.
0:13:52 > 0:13:56128 of the victims were from neutral America,
0:13:56 > 0:14:00and American outrage forced the Kaiser to end his campaign
0:14:00 > 0:14:03of unrestricted U-boat warfare.
0:14:06 > 0:14:09But sinking the Lusitania had been a deadly demonstration
0:14:09 > 0:14:12of the potential of Germany's tiny U-boat fleet.
0:14:15 > 0:14:19So for the British, new techniques for anti-submarine warfare
0:14:19 > 0:14:22had to be developed, and quickly.
0:14:26 > 0:14:29Cruising on the surface as they generally did,
0:14:29 > 0:14:33U-boats could be shelled, or rammed.
0:14:33 > 0:14:37Hitting them underwater was more difficult.
0:14:37 > 0:14:42In 1915, the Royal Navy introduced depth charges - underwater bombs.
0:14:52 > 0:14:56But the question remained of how to detect submerged submarines
0:14:56 > 0:14:58in the first place.
0:14:58 > 0:15:00In search of an answer, in the summer of 1915,
0:15:00 > 0:15:03the Admiralty established a research station
0:15:03 > 0:15:05here at Aberdour on the Forth.
0:15:07 > 0:15:11To develop what became a precursor to modern day sonar -
0:15:11 > 0:15:13the hydrophone.
0:15:13 > 0:15:18A hydrophone attempts to listen to sound underwater.
0:15:18 > 0:15:21it's a receiving microphone
0:15:21 > 0:15:26in a waterproof casing, so that they can put it underwater.
0:15:26 > 0:15:29When a noise - a sound - comes,
0:15:29 > 0:15:33a sound wave will hit the diaphragm.
0:15:33 > 0:15:38It will cause it to vibrate, and the vibrations turned into a sound
0:15:38 > 0:15:40that you will be able to hear.
0:15:40 > 0:15:43So they picked up the pulse and the throb
0:15:43 > 0:15:46- from the engines of the submarines?- Yes, yes.
0:15:48 > 0:15:53In charge of the hydrophone research at Aberdour was Captain Cyril Ryan.
0:15:53 > 0:15:57He assembled an unlikely team that included top scientists,
0:15:57 > 0:16:00Nobel Prize winners, and...
0:16:00 > 0:16:02soprano singers.
0:16:06 > 0:16:09The hydrophones were used in pairs on the boats
0:16:09 > 0:16:12so that they could be used by a trained ear to locate
0:16:12 > 0:16:15where the enemy submarine might have been.
0:16:15 > 0:16:19They wanted to put them so that it was low for port
0:16:19 > 0:16:23and high for starboard, and so they thought the best people
0:16:23 > 0:16:27to do that, and I'm sure the musicians were delighted,
0:16:27 > 0:16:29were the top musicians of the day.
0:16:29 > 0:16:31So they had a Hamilton Harty,
0:16:31 > 0:16:34who was in charge of the Halle Orchestra,
0:16:34 > 0:16:39and his wife, who was Agnes Nichols, and she was a famous singer.
0:16:51 > 0:16:55And they sat amongst all the hydrophones here - probably here -
0:16:55 > 0:16:58and they had to get them into piles,
0:16:58 > 0:17:01low for port and high for starboard,
0:17:01 > 0:17:04and they used a hammer to tap the diaphragms
0:17:04 > 0:17:06and they got them into pairs that way.
0:17:08 > 0:17:12In the war against the U-boats, no idea could be dismissed,
0:17:12 > 0:17:17however eccentric, however underhand.
0:17:17 > 0:17:21The Admiralty demonstrated precious few scruples.
0:17:26 > 0:17:28Painted in tribute to the "dazzle ships" camouflage
0:17:28 > 0:17:32of the Great War, this ship is the last surviving example
0:17:32 > 0:17:35of a dastardly form of British warfare
0:17:35 > 0:17:38that all began in 1915.
0:17:43 > 0:17:47Built in Renfrew, HMS President was a Q ship,
0:17:47 > 0:17:51a class of vessel designed to look like an unarmed cargo ship,
0:17:51 > 0:17:53and to trick U-boats to the surface,
0:17:53 > 0:17:57where a Royal Navy crew would be lying in wait.
0:17:59 > 0:18:03They would disguise themselves as a merchant ship crew.
0:18:03 > 0:18:06Of course, they would get rid of any idea of naval uniform,
0:18:06 > 0:18:07any idea of naval discipline.
0:18:07 > 0:18:09They would be unshaven, untidy.
0:18:09 > 0:18:12They might even have some people disguised as women,
0:18:12 > 0:18:15to pretend to be the captain's wife and family,
0:18:15 > 0:18:17patrolling about the deck as well,
0:18:17 > 0:18:19and they would look as shambolic as possible,
0:18:19 > 0:18:21nothing like a naval crew.
0:18:21 > 0:18:24And I've read that some of them would wear dressing gowns
0:18:24 > 0:18:27on board the deck, or they'd carry budgerigars in cages
0:18:27 > 0:18:30and things like that. Yes, I think they did do things like that.
0:18:30 > 0:18:34I think it reflects the Royal Navy's opinion of the merchant navy
0:18:34 > 0:18:36as much as anything else!
0:18:36 > 0:18:39They thought that was what the merchant navy was like.
0:18:39 > 0:18:41This 1928 film, The Q Ships,
0:18:41 > 0:18:45offers a dramatized portrayal of a Q ship in action.
0:18:47 > 0:18:50On sighting the periscope of a U-boat, the ship's crew
0:18:50 > 0:18:54behaved in a rehearsed panic and took to the lifeboats.
0:18:57 > 0:18:59All to convince those on the U-boat
0:18:59 > 0:19:02that the ship was perfectly harmless.
0:19:02 > 0:19:04They would hope the German submarines would surface
0:19:04 > 0:19:07and try to sink them by gunfire.
0:19:07 > 0:19:10Torpedoes were very expensive things. It was much simpler
0:19:10 > 0:19:14to get up on the surface and sink the ship by gunfire.
0:19:14 > 0:19:15As the U-boat approached,
0:19:15 > 0:19:18a hidden crew remained waiting on board the Q ship.
0:19:19 > 0:19:25At the last moment, the crew hoisted the white ensign of the Royal Navy.
0:19:25 > 0:19:30The innocuous cargo ship was officially, if a little belatedly,
0:19:30 > 0:19:33transformed into a Royal Navy gun boat.
0:19:33 > 0:19:35You would hide the guns between barricades,
0:19:35 > 0:19:38you would drop these when the U-boat appeared
0:19:38 > 0:19:40and then you would fire on the U-boat.
0:19:43 > 0:19:46The war that had begun with the gentlemanly prize rules had,
0:19:46 > 0:19:51within a year, descended into the horrors of the Lusitania
0:19:51 > 0:19:53and the deceit of the Q ships.
0:20:05 > 0:20:09The next year, 1916, began with the Kaiser's second campaign
0:20:09 > 0:20:11of unrestricted submarine warfare.
0:20:15 > 0:20:17A campaign that ended in international outrage
0:20:17 > 0:20:21when the ferry Sussex was torpedoed by UB-29.
0:20:21 > 0:20:2350 passengers were killed.
0:20:31 > 0:20:331916 would be better remembered
0:20:33 > 0:20:37for the epic but inconclusive Battle of Jutland.
0:20:40 > 0:20:42Then just three days later
0:20:42 > 0:20:46for an infamous trap laid by one U-boat, U75.
0:20:53 > 0:20:56On the 4th of June, the Secretary of State for War,
0:20:56 > 0:20:59Lord Kitchener, arrived at Scapa Flow
0:20:59 > 0:21:01en route to a top secret meeting in Russia.
0:21:03 > 0:21:07He was applauded on board HMS Iron Duke.
0:21:07 > 0:21:10He met and had lunch with Admiral Jellicoe,
0:21:10 > 0:21:13the commander in chief of the Grand Fleet.
0:21:15 > 0:21:20Kitchener was a national icon, Britain's favourite soldier.
0:21:20 > 0:21:24That afternoon, aboard the Iron Duke, the weather closed in.
0:21:24 > 0:21:27Jellicoe suggested to the Secretary of State
0:21:27 > 0:21:29that he delay his journey,
0:21:29 > 0:21:31but Kitchener was having none of it.
0:21:31 > 0:21:36Soon after 4pm, Kitchener returned to the deck of the Iron Duke.
0:21:37 > 0:21:41The moment was recorded in this - his last known photograph.
0:21:51 > 0:21:54At 5pm, his ship, the Hampshire,
0:21:54 > 0:21:56set out with an escort of two destroyers.
0:21:57 > 0:22:01Jellicoe had ordered that they sail to the west of Orkney,
0:22:01 > 0:22:03to shelter from the storm.
0:22:03 > 0:22:05But unknown to the British,
0:22:05 > 0:22:09submarine U75 had already paid a visit.
0:22:12 > 0:22:14The sea condition and wind were such that the destroyers
0:22:14 > 0:22:18couldn't keep up, so the Hampshire reluctantly sent them back to Scapa.
0:22:18 > 0:22:19So she was steaming on her own.
0:22:19 > 0:22:22And she reached here just before 8 o'clock at night
0:22:22 > 0:22:25and ran into a string of mines that had been laid
0:22:25 > 0:22:28by a U-boat, the U75.
0:22:28 > 0:22:31And she hit at least one mine, more likely two chained together.
0:22:31 > 0:22:35They set off at least two explosions on board the ship, possibly three.
0:22:35 > 0:22:39Keeled over fairly quickly and sank within 15 minutes.
0:22:39 > 0:22:42She managed to get three life rafts away
0:22:42 > 0:22:47and nearly 200 mostly young, fit sailors scrambled on board,
0:22:47 > 0:22:49before the ship went down.
0:22:49 > 0:22:51Some of them managed to reach up the beach,
0:22:51 > 0:22:55and basically that's as far as they got before they died from exposure.
0:22:55 > 0:22:59- Did the lifeboat take to sea? - No, the Stromness lifeboat
0:22:59 > 0:23:02was manned, and the crew were ready to go
0:23:02 > 0:23:05and asked permission from the navy to do so, and it was refused.
0:23:05 > 0:23:09- Do you know why?- The navy's view was that they had plenty
0:23:09 > 0:23:12of boats of their own and that they would do it themselves.
0:23:12 > 0:23:15They sent out an armed yacht and a trawler,
0:23:15 > 0:23:18followed 15 minutes later by four destroyers,
0:23:18 > 0:23:20including the two that had left the Hampshire before.
0:23:20 > 0:23:23These ships never picked up anyone.
0:23:23 > 0:23:25By then, the rafts had been driven down the coast
0:23:25 > 0:23:29and nobody was picked up directly from the sea.
0:23:32 > 0:23:36Amazingly, two young English sailors made it ashore at this farm.
0:23:38 > 0:23:40Inside were Jim Sabiston's grandparents
0:23:40 > 0:23:43and his 20-year-old mother.
0:23:45 > 0:23:49It was quite dramatic, this bedraggled sailor at the door,
0:23:49 > 0:23:52and then she shouted on her man to come
0:23:52 > 0:23:55and her daughter, my mother, shouted on them.
0:23:55 > 0:23:57They got up and got the fire going,
0:23:57 > 0:24:01and boiled a kettle. There were no electric kettles in those days.
0:24:01 > 0:24:05They boiled a kettle and got tea and something to eat
0:24:05 > 0:24:06and got them to bed.
0:24:06 > 0:24:09They got some of my grandfather's clothes to put on, I think,
0:24:09 > 0:24:13and put to bed, and they were there till morning.
0:24:13 > 0:24:17But in that time, my grandfather had gone out
0:24:17 > 0:24:19and gone to the next door neighbours'.
0:24:19 > 0:24:21They came down to the shore here,
0:24:21 > 0:24:24and they had ropes with them and my grandfather went down
0:24:24 > 0:24:29with a rope round his waist and they took up three more survivors.
0:24:29 > 0:24:31He went down on a rope over the cliff?
0:24:31 > 0:24:35Yeah, and they took up one at a time till they got three of them up.
0:24:39 > 0:24:43Jim's grandfather and his neighbours had saved three lives.
0:24:43 > 0:24:46But, for reasons that remain unclear to this day,
0:24:46 > 0:24:48they were ordered to stop.
0:24:50 > 0:24:53Conspiracy theories have persisted,
0:24:53 > 0:24:56and in particular that the naval authorities valued the secrecy
0:24:56 > 0:25:00of Kitchener's papers more than they valued the men of the Hampshire.
0:25:02 > 0:25:04My grandfather and them
0:25:04 > 0:25:07were stopped from doing anything more.
0:25:07 > 0:25:09To try and rescue any more.
0:25:09 > 0:25:12- Who stopped them? - I think it was navy.
0:25:12 > 0:25:15Officials came up from Stromness or somewhere.
0:25:15 > 0:25:19- And stopped the local people going to help the survivors.- Yes.
0:25:21 > 0:25:25So were there a lot of dead bodies swept onto the beach?
0:25:25 > 0:25:27Yes, yes. They carted them off in lorries.
0:25:30 > 0:25:34The next day, they were carrying them up in lorries.
0:25:34 > 0:25:37No sympathy at all. They were just thrown on the lorries,
0:25:37 > 0:25:38just the bodies.
0:25:41 > 0:25:44Terrible. Terrible story.
0:25:47 > 0:25:52From Hampshire's crew of over 700, only 12 survived.
0:25:54 > 0:25:57Kitchener's body was never found.
0:26:02 > 0:26:04One U-boat and two mines had sunk the Hampshire
0:26:04 > 0:26:08and placed Britain in a state of national mourning.
0:26:10 > 0:26:11One thing was clear.
0:26:11 > 0:26:16Britain's warships needed even greater protection from German U-boats.
0:26:24 > 0:26:27Built in Birkenhead in 1914,
0:26:27 > 0:26:32the British light cruiser HMS Caroline is the only ship
0:26:32 > 0:26:37still afloat that saw action at the Battle of Jutland in 1916.
0:26:39 > 0:26:41Back then, her first line of defence
0:26:41 > 0:26:45was the poor soul keeping watch on top of the tripod mast.
0:26:47 > 0:26:53Now, I'm about to climb up to the lookout point way up there.
0:26:53 > 0:26:55I've got a safety harness on.
0:26:55 > 0:27:00Can you imagine doing it in freezing cold weather, out on the high seas,
0:27:00 > 0:27:02when the boat is rocking?
0:27:02 > 0:27:04Not a lot of laughs.
0:27:09 > 0:27:13As the Great War began, getting to an elevated position
0:27:13 > 0:27:18was the still the best way of spotting enemy ships and surfaced U-boats.
0:27:18 > 0:27:22A technique that hadn't changed much since Nelson was a boy.
0:27:26 > 0:27:30Can you imagine what it'd have been like, during the Great War,
0:27:30 > 0:27:34you're part of the British Grand Fleet,
0:27:34 > 0:27:37you're fighting the German High Seas Fleet.
0:27:37 > 0:27:39Shells exploding all round you,
0:27:39 > 0:27:41crashing around in 20-foot-high waves.
0:27:41 > 0:27:44You don't know whether you are going to live or going to die.
0:27:44 > 0:27:45There's smoke and mayhem.
0:27:45 > 0:27:47Torpedoes coming at you.
0:27:47 > 0:27:51It must have been truly, truly terrifying.
0:27:51 > 0:27:53Not for wimps like me. That takes real men.
0:27:56 > 0:27:57From 100 feet up,
0:27:57 > 0:28:01a lookout could see for a distance of around 12 miles.
0:28:03 > 0:28:05But from 1,000 feet up,
0:28:05 > 0:28:08an airman could see a distance of almost 40 miles.
0:28:11 > 0:28:13And so, to protect British ships,
0:28:13 > 0:28:17a fantastic assortment of primitive aircraft took to the skies.
0:28:25 > 0:28:28At Scapa Flow, over 1,000 men were involved
0:28:28 > 0:28:31in the aerial defence of the Grand Fleet,
0:28:31 > 0:28:34now under the command of Admiral Beatty.
0:28:37 > 0:28:41On patrol, Beatty's ships were accompanied by powered airships,
0:28:41 > 0:28:44or blimps, based at Caldale, just west of Kirkwall.
0:28:47 > 0:28:52Caldale was also the base for an even more terrifying form of early aviation.
0:28:56 > 0:29:00Unpowered two-man kite balloons attached by a single lifeline
0:29:00 > 0:29:02to the deck of a warship.
0:29:03 > 0:29:06They could go up to about 3,000 feet
0:29:06 > 0:29:10and be towed along at about 20 knots.
0:29:10 > 0:29:13It's quite hazardous, of course,
0:29:13 > 0:29:16because they were subject to weather,
0:29:16 > 0:29:21and there were one or two lightning strikes, and there is one report,
0:29:21 > 0:29:23that I don't think is apocryphal,
0:29:23 > 0:29:27of a balloon that simply snapped and was never seen again.
0:29:27 > 0:29:29Dear Lord.
0:29:29 > 0:29:33- That's a really scary occupation, isn't it?- Yes.- Very hazardous.
0:29:33 > 0:29:38There is one very telling photograph of the crew of a kite balloon,
0:29:38 > 0:29:41and we have a close-up of the main observer
0:29:41 > 0:29:44and he is looking extremely nervous.
0:29:44 > 0:29:45THEY CHUCKLE
0:29:57 > 0:30:02In modern day aviation, Orkney is world famous for this.
0:30:02 > 0:30:05The world's shortest scheduled flight.
0:30:05 > 0:30:09About two minutes from Westray to Papa Westray.
0:30:12 > 0:30:15But Orkney has another claim to aerial fame.
0:30:18 > 0:30:23A year after Jutland, 25-year-old Squadron Commander Edwin Dunning
0:30:23 > 0:30:27climbed into his tiny Sopwith Pup biplane, and took off.
0:30:30 > 0:30:33Aircraft had long been able to operate from moving warships.
0:30:37 > 0:30:42After their flight, they would touch down on the sea, or on land.
0:30:45 > 0:30:50Landing back on the warship itself presented a monumental challenge.
0:30:54 > 0:30:57Over Scapa Flow, Commander Dunning manoeuvred his aircraft
0:30:57 > 0:31:02towards HMS Furious, and her 220 foot runway
0:31:02 > 0:31:06designed for taking off - not landing.
0:31:08 > 0:31:13- It was doing something like 25, 26 knots.- Pretty fast.
0:31:13 > 0:31:18Into a headwind. Commander Dunning faced considerable difficulties
0:31:18 > 0:31:21avoiding the entire superstructure of Furious,
0:31:21 > 0:31:28and having to drop his Sopwith on to this
0:31:28 > 0:31:32forward deck, with very little room to spare.
0:31:32 > 0:31:37This is a photograph of that famous attempt
0:31:37 > 0:31:42by Commander Dunning to land on HMS Furious.
0:31:42 > 0:31:45And it looks one of the most dangerous
0:31:45 > 0:31:50and scariest adventures ever, not only for Commander Dunning
0:31:50 > 0:31:53but also for the officers and men of HMS Furious,
0:31:53 > 0:31:58who attempted to grab hold of his flying aircraft.
0:31:59 > 0:32:02The second photograph
0:32:02 > 0:32:08is just after he'd completed his landing,
0:32:08 > 0:32:12surrounded by men. It must have been a wonderful moment for him.
0:32:12 > 0:32:15The congratulations of the men all around him,
0:32:15 > 0:32:18because he had done something that no-one else
0:32:18 > 0:32:20had ever done in the world before.
0:32:21 > 0:32:25And the third photograph is taken five days later,
0:32:25 > 0:32:31when unfortunately he slipped off the front of HMS Furious
0:32:31 > 0:32:34and into the water. Now the ship would have been
0:32:34 > 0:32:37steaming ahead at 26 knots. By the time they turned around
0:32:37 > 0:32:42and got back to where the Sopwith Pup was, Commander Dunning was dead.
0:32:45 > 0:32:49Days later, in a letter to Dunning's mother, the Admiralty paid tribute
0:32:49 > 0:32:53to his bravery, and stated that Dunning's pioneering landings
0:32:53 > 0:32:57at Scapa Flow would make aeroplanes indispensible to the fleet.
0:33:05 > 0:33:09On the 31st of January 1917,
0:33:09 > 0:33:13Germany announced a new campaign of unrestricted submarine warfare.
0:33:15 > 0:33:16Her third.
0:33:16 > 0:33:20But now she had over 100 long-range U-boats.
0:33:26 > 0:33:30This would become known as the killing time.
0:33:30 > 0:33:33From the very next day, the 1st of February 1917,
0:33:33 > 0:33:37all ships suspected of carrying goods to Britain
0:33:37 > 0:33:38were to be sunk on sight.
0:33:38 > 0:33:41Without warning, without mercy.
0:33:43 > 0:33:45For the men of Britain's merchant navy,
0:33:45 > 0:33:49the next few months would be the most terrifying yet.
0:33:52 > 0:33:57For Germany, unrestricted U-boat warfare was the only chance
0:33:57 > 0:33:58to take Britain out of the war.
0:34:03 > 0:34:06Her surface fleet had missed its chance at the inconclusive
0:34:06 > 0:34:08Battle of Jutland the year before.
0:34:10 > 0:34:14The German war effort and the German people
0:34:14 > 0:34:18were both being starved by the British naval blockade.
0:34:21 > 0:34:26Jutland had proved to the Germans that they could not challenge the Royal Navy in the North Sea.
0:34:26 > 0:34:29Therefore they could not break through the economic blockade,
0:34:29 > 0:34:32therefore they had to find other means of knocking Britain
0:34:32 > 0:34:34out of the war.
0:34:34 > 0:34:39The navy high command promise that they can sink about 600,000 tonnes
0:34:39 > 0:34:42a month of Allied shipping.
0:34:42 > 0:34:46In April, they exceed that, by some margin.
0:34:46 > 0:34:50They sink nearly 850,000 tonnes of Allied shipping in one month alone.
0:34:50 > 0:34:54- In one month. - That's a huge number.
0:34:56 > 0:35:00April 1917 was the cruellest month,
0:35:00 > 0:35:03with a staggering 516 ships lost to U-boats.
0:35:07 > 0:35:11Henning von Holsendorf was the commander of the navy,
0:35:11 > 0:35:14and was really the driving force behind the submarine campaign.
0:35:14 > 0:35:18He's made a very rough calculation. If the German U-boats
0:35:18 > 0:35:21sink about 600,000 tonnes of Allied shipping,
0:35:21 > 0:35:25that exceeds Britain's capacity to rebuild ships,
0:35:25 > 0:35:30and he reckons that within the first six months, he would have sunk
0:35:30 > 0:35:34about 39% of British shipping, and that would be the point
0:35:34 > 0:35:38when the British would simply not be able to carry on in the war.
0:35:43 > 0:35:47In April 1917, in a letter to the war cabinet,
0:35:47 > 0:35:49Britain's First Sea Lord, Jellicoe, stated,
0:35:49 > 0:35:56"We are carrying on this war as if we had the absolute command of the sea.
0:35:56 > 0:35:59"We have not and have not had for several months."
0:36:01 > 0:36:06He underlined, "Our present policy is heading straight for disaster."
0:36:09 > 0:36:13In June 1917, Jellicoe told the war policy committee
0:36:13 > 0:36:16that owing to the shortage of shipping
0:36:16 > 0:36:21it would be impossible for Britain to carry on the war into 1918.
0:36:28 > 0:36:32The British crisis became German propaganda.
0:36:32 > 0:36:35This 1917 documentary,
0:36:35 > 0:36:40The Enchanted Circle, chronicled the successes of a single German U-boat
0:36:40 > 0:36:44operating against British shipping in the Mediterranean.
0:36:46 > 0:36:48The film in all is 40 minutes,
0:36:48 > 0:36:51and 25 is sinking English ships one after the other.
0:36:51 > 0:36:55It was shown in Germany in Autumn of '17.
0:36:55 > 0:36:59It was not a big success because the public got bored.
0:36:59 > 0:37:02One ship sinking after the other and always the same.
0:37:02 > 0:37:06I think there are a dozen filmed scenes about ships sinking here.
0:37:08 > 0:37:11Yes, that's nice propaganda.
0:37:11 > 0:37:14The commander gets Lloyd's book of ships
0:37:14 > 0:37:18and he strikes out another English one - one after the other.
0:37:18 > 0:37:21Very impressive for the home front.
0:37:26 > 0:37:31- This boat alone sank over 200 British and neutral ships.- Good Lord.
0:37:32 > 0:37:34This is nice film music.
0:37:34 > 0:37:38It's really adapted to each shot.
0:37:40 > 0:37:42This is heartbreaking for ship lovers,
0:37:42 > 0:37:46it's a nice sailing ship going down.
0:37:46 > 0:37:47So sad.
0:37:47 > 0:37:50Miss Morris, English ship.
0:37:50 > 0:37:53Why if she wasn't carrying anything?
0:37:53 > 0:37:58- Or just because...- Carrying olive oil, wine, or something like that.
0:37:58 > 0:38:01Some cargo which was not really urgent.
0:38:01 > 0:38:04Coal, even. Coal ships.
0:38:08 > 0:38:12For British merchant sailors, these were truly terrifying times.
0:38:12 > 0:38:16For every four British merchant ships that set out
0:38:16 > 0:38:22on a return international journey, only three would return unharmed.
0:38:24 > 0:38:27We were losing 12 ships a day.
0:38:27 > 0:38:33- A day!- To U-boats, and we couldn't possibly replace 12 ships a day.
0:38:33 > 0:38:37And we were down to three weeks' food supply,
0:38:37 > 0:38:40and Jellicoe couldn't see a way round it.
0:38:40 > 0:38:47The answer, of course, was the 18th century solution of convoying.
0:38:47 > 0:38:50But Jellicoe was dead against convoying,
0:38:50 > 0:38:54A, because it was a historical thing that he didn't think
0:38:54 > 0:38:59could apply in the 20th century, B, there were technical reasons
0:38:59 > 0:39:04why merchant ships can't keep station in a compact fleet.
0:39:04 > 0:39:06They are not designed to sail in company.
0:39:06 > 0:39:09Also there was an element of snobbery,
0:39:09 > 0:39:13that these merchant ship captains were usually rather scruffy men
0:39:13 > 0:39:16in ill-fitting suits and bowler hats.
0:39:16 > 0:39:19"They can't behave like naval officers, can they?"
0:39:19 > 0:39:23A convoy has tremendous advantages, mathematical advantages,
0:39:23 > 0:39:25over a U-boat.
0:39:25 > 0:39:29And if convoys are escorted, U-boats can't attack on the surface,
0:39:29 > 0:39:33using their guns - much more cheap than using torpedoes.
0:39:35 > 0:39:39After the introduction of convoys, in May 1917,
0:39:39 > 0:39:43the number of cargo ships lost to U-boats fell dramatically.
0:39:45 > 0:39:49Indeed, the biggest casualty of the new convoy strategy
0:39:49 > 0:39:52was the man who had opposed it, Admiral Jellicoe.
0:39:54 > 0:39:58Chosen by Churchill to command the British Grand Fleet
0:39:58 > 0:40:00in the first days of August 1914,
0:40:00 > 0:40:06Jellicoe was effectively sacked on Christmas Eve, 1917.
0:40:09 > 0:40:12A lot officers in the Navy were scandalised
0:40:12 > 0:40:16because he was their hero, but quite a few breathed a sigh of relief -
0:40:16 > 0:40:19"Now we can get on with winning this war."
0:40:19 > 0:40:24And from April 1917, Britain would have a new ally.
0:40:28 > 0:40:31Frustrated at the loss of her ships to the German U-boats,
0:40:31 > 0:40:34the United States entered the war.
0:40:36 > 0:40:39Her dreadnoughts sailed to Scapa Flow,
0:40:39 > 0:40:41and in the seas east of Orkney,
0:40:41 > 0:40:45American naval engineers laid out plans for one of the most ambitious
0:40:45 > 0:40:48and grandiose projects of the entire campaign.
0:40:54 > 0:40:56This was a truly amazing scheme -
0:40:56 > 0:40:59a minefield, hundreds of miles long,
0:40:59 > 0:41:01between Scotland and Norway.
0:41:03 > 0:41:06In 1917, planners here at the US Naval Academy
0:41:06 > 0:41:11estimated it might cost 200 million -
0:41:11 > 0:41:15the equivalent of £10 billion today.
0:41:15 > 0:41:19You have to realise what the United States was in 1917 -
0:41:19 > 0:41:22it was the place where things were mass produced.
0:41:22 > 0:41:26So when we thought of a contribution to the war, we thought numbers.
0:41:26 > 0:41:30And very early in our entry into the war,
0:41:30 > 0:41:33someone said, "Well, look, you want to deal with these subs,
0:41:33 > 0:41:35"seal off the end of the North Sea
0:41:35 > 0:41:37"so that they can't get out into the Atlantic."
0:41:37 > 0:41:40Part of it is we're going to be running troop ships
0:41:40 > 0:41:44across the Atlantic with the army - that's our biggest contribution.
0:41:44 > 0:41:47How do you protect them? Put in a gate.
0:41:47 > 0:41:51Now I believe one of the most passionate advocates
0:41:51 > 0:41:53of the barrage was a future US President.
0:41:53 > 0:41:56Roosevelt was Assistant Secretary of the Navy.
0:41:56 > 0:41:59That means he was responsible for procurement.
0:41:59 > 0:42:01It wasn't invented by Roosevelt,
0:42:01 > 0:42:03it was invented by someone in the Bureau of Ordnance,
0:42:03 > 0:42:06who went to Roosevelt and said, "Look at this."
0:42:06 > 0:42:08And Roosevelt said, "Yes, yes!"
0:42:08 > 0:42:11And then he becomes the main advocate, and he sells it
0:42:11 > 0:42:12internally in the US Government.
0:42:12 > 0:42:16They also sell it to a British Admiralty that believes it's idiotic.
0:42:16 > 0:42:19How did he manage to sell it? I mean, I've read estimates,
0:42:19 > 0:42:21conservative estimates, that it was going to cost a minimum
0:42:21 > 0:42:25of 200 million. That's a hell of a lot of money, isn't it?
0:42:25 > 0:42:30Once we get in the war, there's a lot of money.
0:42:30 > 0:42:33And there's also a very strong desire
0:42:33 > 0:42:35to do something decisive that will end things.
0:42:35 > 0:42:38And if it's 200 million, we had the money.
0:42:38 > 0:42:40We were a very rich country at that time.
0:42:41 > 0:42:46The plan called for the production of 70,000 mines,
0:42:46 > 0:42:51of which 50,000 would be manufactured in the United States.
0:42:51 > 0:42:53There was a naval gun factory in Washington
0:42:53 > 0:42:57that did most of the ordnance work. I suspect that they did the mechanisms.
0:42:57 > 0:42:59The casings were probably out of Detroit -
0:42:59 > 0:43:02that would have been where you got mass production.
0:43:02 > 0:43:04- In the car factories?- Yeah.
0:43:04 > 0:43:06You convert the car factories to other things.
0:43:06 > 0:43:10That was a major American resource, and we used it.
0:43:10 > 0:43:15Components were delivered to the Norfolk Navy Yards,
0:43:15 > 0:43:20then shipped across the Atlantic and along the Caledonian Canal.
0:43:22 > 0:43:26The mines were finally assembled in converted whisky distilleries
0:43:26 > 0:43:29in Inverness and Invergordon.
0:43:31 > 0:43:35We also modify a fair number of ships to lay the mines.
0:43:35 > 0:43:38The Royal Navy covers the minelaying operation,
0:43:38 > 0:43:41but the minelayers are American.
0:43:44 > 0:43:49The finished minefield comprised multiple overlapping layers.
0:43:49 > 0:43:52It ran from the east of Orkney across the North Sea
0:43:52 > 0:43:56to a position just north of Stavanger in Norway -
0:43:56 > 0:44:00an approximate distance of 270 miles.
0:44:03 > 0:44:08Under the surface, mines were sown at three depths down to 240 feet -
0:44:08 > 0:44:12well below the maximum operating depth of a U-boat.
0:44:12 > 0:44:16Each mine contained 300 pounds of explosive.
0:44:18 > 0:44:22And the deeper mines had new, top-secret antennae
0:44:22 > 0:44:25that would detonate on contact with a U-boat.
0:44:28 > 0:44:33In total, 70,263 mines were sown.
0:44:33 > 0:44:36The project was completed in the Autumn of 1918,
0:44:36 > 0:44:41just as the German war effort was finally collapsing.
0:44:41 > 0:44:44So there's a real question as to how much sense it made.
0:44:44 > 0:44:48In the US Navy of that era, you're looking at a navy
0:44:48 > 0:44:50that hasn't quite matured to the point where
0:44:50 > 0:44:53people automatically think about these things.
0:44:53 > 0:44:58The Royal Navy is a much more mature navy, obviously, and that shows.
0:44:58 > 0:45:02A lot of the effect of World War I on the US Navy
0:45:02 > 0:45:05is we thought we were really good before the war.
0:45:05 > 0:45:08We were sure we were just right up there.
0:45:08 > 0:45:11And we discovered we weren't.
0:45:11 > 0:45:14And that was a very salutary thing.
0:45:17 > 0:45:21For all the cost - the equivalent to £10 billion today -
0:45:21 > 0:45:24only six German U-boats have been confirmed
0:45:24 > 0:45:26as casualties of the minefield.
0:45:30 > 0:45:33The first casualty was U92.
0:45:39 > 0:45:43On board was Assistant Engineer Wilhelm Koerver,
0:45:43 > 0:45:47Hans Koerver's great uncle.
0:45:47 > 0:45:50The boat has been found south of the Orkneys
0:45:50 > 0:45:52in 80 metres depth, with...
0:45:52 > 0:45:57I saw some nice sonar pictures of the boat -
0:45:57 > 0:46:02it's quite intact. I contacted some divers who had gone down to there.
0:46:02 > 0:46:07They say the hull is nearly intact, so I assume it had been hit
0:46:07 > 0:46:12in the distance by a mine which had destroyed the diving tanks
0:46:12 > 0:46:14so it went down. And it's still intact,
0:46:14 > 0:46:17so all the crew, my great uncle and his comrades,
0:46:17 > 0:46:21are still lying there since nearly 100 years, now.
0:46:21 > 0:46:22Hans, when we think...
0:46:22 > 0:46:25Well, certainly when I think of the First World War,
0:46:25 > 0:46:30you have very brutal, visceral images of men dying in the trenches,
0:46:30 > 0:46:34in the most horrific circumstances, and we very rarely think about
0:46:34 > 0:46:36the submariners and the sailors who died
0:46:36 > 0:46:40in probably equally horrific circumstances at sea.
0:46:40 > 0:46:43About two thirds of the submarines were sunk in the end.
0:46:43 > 0:46:48I think half of the submariners, around 6,000, 8,000 men,
0:46:48 > 0:46:53that served on board the submarines were drowned with their boats.
0:46:53 > 0:46:58I found a story of a submarine which was sunk into the ground
0:46:58 > 0:47:03but the crew was still alive and the water was rising inside,
0:47:03 > 0:47:06and the first ones got out pistols
0:47:06 > 0:47:11and tried to shoot themselves, but the pistols had gotten wet.
0:47:11 > 0:47:15Others were trying to suffocate themselves
0:47:15 > 0:47:17by throwing something in their mouth.
0:47:17 > 0:47:20The eyewitness who had seen this,
0:47:20 > 0:47:23later he was able to escape by the torpedo tubes,
0:47:23 > 0:47:26so never anybody talked about this,
0:47:26 > 0:47:30but there seems to have been some kind of consensus -
0:47:30 > 0:47:33"So, what will we do in the case our submarine is lying on the ground,
0:47:33 > 0:47:38"will never go up again? We will slowly suffocate."
0:47:38 > 0:47:42I think there was a consensus, there were weapons on board,
0:47:42 > 0:47:45pistols, to shoot themselves.
0:47:51 > 0:47:56The German U-boats had their final shot at glory in October 1918.
0:48:01 > 0:48:04UB116, carrying 11 torpedoes,
0:48:04 > 0:48:06headed into Scapa Flow.
0:48:08 > 0:48:11Since 1914, this had been the primary base
0:48:11 > 0:48:15of Britain's Grand Fleet, her mighty dreadnoughts,
0:48:15 > 0:48:19commanded by Admirals Jellicoe then Beatty.
0:48:22 > 0:48:25At Hoxa, the southern entrance to Scapa Flow,
0:48:25 > 0:48:30the engine noise of UB116 was detected by hydrophone.
0:48:33 > 0:48:36Technology pioneered at Aberdour
0:48:36 > 0:48:39by Captain Ryan's team of scientists and singers
0:48:39 > 0:48:42fixed the exact location and depth of the U-boat.
0:48:44 > 0:48:47EXPLOSION
0:48:52 > 0:48:56UB116 was destroyed by an electronic mine.
0:48:56 > 0:49:00Her target, the British Grand Fleet, was 200 miles to the south.
0:49:00 > 0:49:03Their new commander, Admiral Beatty,
0:49:03 > 0:49:06had transferred the entire fleet to the Forth,
0:49:06 > 0:49:11so this final U-boat attack had been a deadly and pointless failure.
0:49:18 > 0:49:22At Wilhelmshaven, the sailors of the High Seas Fleet mutinied.
0:49:22 > 0:49:26Their revolution spread across the country.
0:49:26 > 0:49:28The Kaiser abdicated.
0:49:31 > 0:49:34On the 11th of November 1918,
0:49:34 > 0:49:37the land war ended with the Armistice of Compiegne.
0:49:37 > 0:49:42The sea war would end four days later - in Fife.
0:49:45 > 0:49:50The representative of the Imperial German Navy, Admiral Meurer,
0:49:50 > 0:49:55arrived on the Forth on board the German cruiser Konigsberg.
0:49:55 > 0:49:59Accompanied by his staff officers, Meurer was taken to Rosyth Dockyard,
0:49:59 > 0:50:03where they boarded HMS Queen Elizabeth,
0:50:03 > 0:50:06Admiral Beatty's flagship.
0:50:06 > 0:50:09Her modern namesake now dominates Rosyth.
0:50:15 > 0:50:18In Admiral Beatty's cabin on board the old HMS Queen Elizabeth,
0:50:18 > 0:50:22Beatty met Meurer and the German officers.
0:50:22 > 0:50:24They sat opposite each other at a long table,
0:50:24 > 0:50:28while Beatty dictated the terms of the naval armistice.
0:50:34 > 0:50:37There's a very famous painting of this by Sir John Lavery,
0:50:37 > 0:50:40and the British actually had Sir John Lavery in naval uniform
0:50:40 > 0:50:43so he could sit in the room without the Germans knowing
0:50:43 > 0:50:46there was an artist in there to record this moment.
0:50:46 > 0:50:48And essentially Beatty read the terms
0:50:48 > 0:50:51under which the German fleet was to be interned.
0:50:55 > 0:50:58The victorious allied navies each had a right
0:50:58 > 0:51:00to a share of the ships of the German Navy.
0:51:00 > 0:51:04That share had to be determined, and until it was,
0:51:04 > 0:51:07the vessels would be kept in British waters.
0:51:09 > 0:51:13The first to arrive were the German U-boats.
0:51:13 > 0:51:18On the 20th of November 1918, they sailed into Harwich.
0:51:21 > 0:51:23As they arrived, British crewmen
0:51:23 > 0:51:26were ordered not to cheer in victory.
0:51:26 > 0:51:28The crews were dispatched back to Germany,
0:51:28 > 0:51:30leaving their submarines behind.
0:51:30 > 0:51:33At the end of four years and three months of war,
0:51:33 > 0:51:37the German U-boats had sunk over 5,000 ships.
0:51:40 > 0:51:43The German surface fleet surrendered the next day,
0:51:43 > 0:51:45the 21st of November.
0:51:47 > 0:51:51HMS Queen Elizabeth headed out to meet the German ships.
0:51:51 > 0:51:54Admiral Beatty acknowledged the cheers.
0:51:57 > 0:52:02Way out at the mouth of the Firth, 40 miles off the Isle of May,
0:52:02 > 0:52:07the German surface fleet steamed in, and the allied fleet - which was
0:52:07 > 0:52:12the British Grand Fleet, there was an American battle squadron,
0:52:12 > 0:52:14there were some French representatives -
0:52:14 > 0:52:17370 ships in two lines, waiting.
0:52:17 > 0:52:21And the Germans came and steamed in between them.
0:52:21 > 0:52:23Initially the atmosphere was very tense.
0:52:23 > 0:52:25The German ships had been de-ammunitioned
0:52:25 > 0:52:28and the breechblocks had been removed from the guns -
0:52:28 > 0:52:30that was part of the terms of the armistice.
0:52:30 > 0:52:33The British ships - the guns weren't loaded,
0:52:33 > 0:52:36but they were ready to load and the crews were at action stations,
0:52:36 > 0:52:39because no-one really knew. There was a possibility,
0:52:39 > 0:52:42there was a risk, that there may be some gesture of defiance.
0:52:42 > 0:52:45And they anchored below Inchkeith,
0:52:45 > 0:52:48which is the island you can just see silhouetted on the horizon there.
0:52:48 > 0:52:51- People came out. People came out in boats.- I was going to say,
0:52:51 > 0:52:55- it must have been quite a spectacle...- Extraordinary sight. - ..for the local people to watch.
0:52:55 > 0:52:58This is the dramatic downfall of German power,
0:52:58 > 0:53:00so people came out for a closer look.
0:53:00 > 0:53:03There was no sense of honour between foes, either.
0:53:03 > 0:53:06There was a sense of contempt for the German Navy,
0:53:06 > 0:53:10that they had stayed in harbour, they had relied on submarine warfare,
0:53:10 > 0:53:14which was considered to be dishonourable, ungentlemanly warfare.
0:53:14 > 0:53:18So the British had sense of disgust, almost, at the Germans.
0:53:18 > 0:53:21So Admiral Beatty said that he ached, they all ached,
0:53:21 > 0:53:25to give them a dose of what they had intended for them.
0:53:25 > 0:53:29Beatty's signal officer described the scene as being like
0:53:29 > 0:53:33attending the funeral of some very sordid person who had been murdered.
0:53:33 > 0:53:35HE LAUGHS
0:53:35 > 0:53:40And then Beatty sent the signal out that at sunset
0:53:40 > 0:53:45the German ships should lower their flags and not raise them again,
0:53:45 > 0:53:48and that was the finish.
0:53:53 > 0:53:55Over the next few days,
0:53:55 > 0:53:58the German surface fleet was escorted to Scapa Flow.
0:54:00 > 0:54:03The great natural harbour where the British fleet had begun the war
0:54:03 > 0:54:07was where the German fleet was ordered to end the war.
0:54:10 > 0:54:13Under the command of Admiral von Reuter,
0:54:13 > 0:54:16the frustrated, hungry and ill-disciplined sailors
0:54:16 > 0:54:19on board the 74 German ships
0:54:19 > 0:54:22awaited the outcome of the Paris peace talks.
0:54:22 > 0:54:26And after seven months, the Admiral's patience ran out.
0:54:27 > 0:54:31At 11:20am on the 21st of June 1919,
0:54:31 > 0:54:34Reuter sent a signal from his flagship, the Emden.
0:54:34 > 0:54:38The flags read: "Paragraph 11. Confirm."
0:54:38 > 0:54:42That was the cue to scuttle the entire fleet.
0:54:48 > 0:54:51At 12 noon, as they settled lower and lower in the water,
0:54:51 > 0:54:55each ship hoisted the colours of the Imperial German Navy.
0:54:59 > 0:55:02It's a matter of your honour as an officer.
0:55:02 > 0:55:05You don't hand over your ships.
0:55:05 > 0:55:08You either go down fighting with your ship,
0:55:08 > 0:55:11or you make sure that your enemy doesn't get it.
0:55:15 > 0:55:17As German crewmen took to the lifeboats,
0:55:17 > 0:55:20flying white flags of surrender,
0:55:20 > 0:55:24some were confronted by British sailors and marines.
0:55:27 > 0:55:31As the events unfolded, a British war artist,
0:55:31 > 0:55:33Bernard Gribble, looked on.
0:55:37 > 0:55:40So it looks like there are three white flags of surrender
0:55:40 > 0:55:43on these small boats, and you've got British sailors
0:55:43 > 0:55:47and an officer up there, training guns on them.
0:55:48 > 0:55:51Gribble recorded his eyewitness account
0:55:51 > 0:55:55in both painting and prose.
0:55:55 > 0:55:57He had stuck this description onto the back of the painting,
0:55:57 > 0:56:01so there's no doubt about what's going on. He says,
0:56:01 > 0:56:03"In a few moments the vessel began to sink,
0:56:03 > 0:56:06"and our men were ordered to open fire on the approaching crews
0:56:06 > 0:56:08"as they refused to return to the ship.
0:56:08 > 0:56:10"The German officers were very daring,
0:56:10 > 0:56:12"actually coming alongside our boat,
0:56:12 > 0:56:15"and arguing their right to be taken on board.
0:56:15 > 0:56:20"They smoked cigars and wore yellow kid gloves all through the incident.
0:56:20 > 0:56:24"They suffered losses among their men, as several were shot down."
0:56:25 > 0:56:28This picture does not portray our finest hour,
0:56:28 > 0:56:34if you have British seamen ready to fire on unarmed,
0:56:34 > 0:56:37white flag of surrender-waving Germans.
0:56:38 > 0:56:41It wasn't publicised that this had occurred.
0:56:41 > 0:56:43There's some confusion - I mean, accounts vary,
0:56:43 > 0:56:45but Gribble is quite clear,
0:56:45 > 0:56:47and he was quoted in the press internationally afterwards,
0:56:47 > 0:56:51that the men in the boats were fired upon.
0:56:51 > 0:56:54So it's not something that the Admiralty
0:56:54 > 0:56:57and the British Government dwelled on.
0:56:57 > 0:57:00But this was an act of war, the armistice terms had been violated.
0:57:00 > 0:57:03- By scuttling the ships, they were breaking the armistice terms. - Absolutely. I mean,
0:57:03 > 0:57:06they raised their ensigns. They were considered to be a legitimate target.
0:57:25 > 0:57:29The Germans killed in the summer of 1919 are buried
0:57:29 > 0:57:32alongside more than 400 British sailors
0:57:32 > 0:57:36here at Lyness Cemetery on the island of Hoy.
0:57:38 > 0:57:42These gravestones mark the final casualties of the Great War,
0:57:42 > 0:57:46seven months after the armistice.
0:57:53 > 0:57:55To this day, the waters of Scapa Flow
0:57:55 > 0:57:58are home to remnants of the Imperial German Navy.
0:58:00 > 0:58:03For their deadly enemy, the Royal Navy,
0:58:03 > 0:58:07this great natural harbour had been home for four years.
0:58:10 > 0:58:14But by the end of 1918, the Royal Navy had returned
0:58:14 > 0:58:16to the home comforts of Portsmouth and Plymouth.
0:58:16 > 0:58:19But the battle had been won here.
0:58:19 > 0:58:22From Scottish harbours, and on northern seas.