In a short but dramatic career the Nazi battleship Scharnhorst became one of the most feared warships of the Second World War. She sank the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Glorious and became the scourge of Allied Convoys in the North Atlantic. Then, when under threat of destruction, Scharnhorst escaped back to Germany through the English Channel in one of the most audacious naval operations in the entire war. But her luck would finally run out in the freezing waters of the Arctic, in a deadly battle with the British battleship Duke of York.
The loss of the Skipjack-class nuclear powered submarine USS Scorpion is one of the greatest maritime mysteries of the 20th Century. When she disappeared in 1968, the Scorpion was one of the most modern and deadliest attack submarines the world had ever seen. Following a huge search and rescue operation the wreck was finally located at a depth of just under 10,000 feet. But speculation over the cause of her loss continues to this day. Was it a faulty torpedo, a fire within the submarine's batteries, or even a deadly confrontation with America’s cold war rival, the Soviet Union?
For centuries, explorers have searched inside shipwrecks for gold, but there has never been a treasure trove as valuable - or as difficult to recover - as that lost in the waters of the Barents Sea in 1941. British light cruiser HMS Edinburgh was assigned the dangerous mission of escorting an Arctic convoy to the Soviet Union. But on her trip home, laden with Russian gold, the warship was attacked by a German U-boat. Edinburgh's fight for survival and the audacious operation launched to recover the gold decades later tell a remarkable forgotten story of bravery above and below the sea.
USS Nevada was a legend in the United States Navy. She was the only American battleship to raise steam during the deadly Japanese attack on the US fleet at Pearl Harbour and managed to survive the assault despite suffering appalling torpedo and bomb damage. Nevada’s guns would go on to support the D-Day landings in Europe and those in the Pacific at Iwo Jima and Okinawa. But despite her exemplary service, at the end of the war, she was selected as a target ship for the atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll. But even a nuclear bomb couldn't sink Nevada...
Formerly the USS Phoenix, the Belgrano survived the attack on Pearl Harbour and was subsequently sold to the Argentine government in 1951, where she assisted in the overthrow of President Juan Peron. She joined the Argentine naval task forces in the Falklands invasion in 1982, where the British Submarine HMS Conqueror fired three torpedoes, two of which hit and sank her. 321 sailors and 2 civilians died in the sinking, turning the tide for the invasion as the Argentine ships withdrew. The loss of the Belgrano remains deeply controversial; the ship was sailing away from the exclusion zone when sunk.
Launched 14th February 1939, The Bismarck represented the terrifying rise of Nazi Germany. With her fearsome combination of size, unmatched speed, and immense firepower, she terrified British naval planners. Following Bismarck's destruction of the Royal Navy’s HMS Hood, the British engaged in a relentless pursuit, which would finally result in her 1941 destruction, subjecting Bismarck to a devastating hail of shells. Long-standing Debates surrounding the ship's demise were solved upon its 1989 discovery, revealing it was her own crew that had scuttled the ship. Despite her loss, Bismarck’s short but spectacular career would see her go down in naval legend.
Across 27 years and two World Wars, the Barham was an iconic member of the British fleet. With a speed of 24 knots, she was fast and immensely powerful. She played an important role in World War Two and was later sent south in Operation Menace, an attempt to capture the strategically important Vichy held port of Dakar. She then transferred to the Mediterranean fleet, fighting at the famous Battle of Cape Matapan. In November 1941, she was hit by 3 torpedoes fired from U-331. News of her sinking was suppressed for as long as possible to protect British morale.
The HMS Exeter became synonymous with bravery and sacrifice. Renowned for engaging the German pocket battleship Graf Spee in 1939 off the coast of South America, her crew were celebrated as heroes by Winston Churchill upon their return. After extensive repairs, she was sent to the Far East, later to assist in the Battle of the Java Sea. Severely damaged by a Japanese shell, she attempted to withdraw and escape, only to be hunted and sunk by Japanese warships. She was rediscovered in remarkably preserved condition in 2007, but by 2015 the wreck had mysteriously vanished, destroyed by illegal salvagers.