Discovery Industrial Revelations Best of British_5of6_Ships
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00:00Who is the best in the world at engineering?
00:30Well, the British invented the steam engine, the internal combustion engine, the jet engine, the railway, tarmac, disc brakes, periscopes, television, light bulbs.
00:43Look very carefully and you'll find that we British have been behind almost every advance that has shaped the modern world.
00:50And if there's one place where you'd expect the Brits to be top dogs, it's on the high seas.
00:55Naval architects and sailors have steered me through the choppy waters of maritime history and come up with our five best of British ships.
01:04For nearly 500 years the Royal Navy has defended our happy island, made the sea safe for British trade and generally thwacked anyone who needed thwacking.
01:15A warship is vital in war and handy in diplomacy.
01:20But when it comes to the element of surprise, what you really need is one of these.
01:27HMS Superb belongs to the Swift Shore class of submarines.
01:31These nuclear-powered subs are equipped with cruise missiles and were the first British subs to sail under the polar ice cap.
01:39If you've ever seen Ice Station Zebra, this is the real thing.
01:42To rendezvous with the Superb, I've been sent, like Rock Hudson, to a remote spot on the Firth of Clyde.
01:49No address, just a grid reference.
01:52Why subs hang out in places like this, I'm not sure.
01:55To keep an eye on the Scots, I imagine.
02:00Squeezing into the hatch, I braced myself for the reeking smell of a hundred teenage boys' bedrooms.
02:06But it's surprisingly lemon fresh.
02:08Though I'm told after three months underwater, it whiffs like a dead dog with personal hygiene problems.
02:15The Swift Shore submarines are hunter-killer vessels.
02:18They're equipped to destroy enemies of our fishing, to conduct surveillance operations, to fire missiles at targets on land,
02:24to seek out new civilisations and to boldly go where no man has gone beyond behind before.
02:30Oh, I got the last bit wrong. But they're good submarines.
02:33It was the Brits who dreamt up submarines, a chap called William Bourne.
02:38Before long, inventors were creating all kinds of weird and wonderful designs.
02:42But there were all sorts of problems.
02:44Early submarines had limited air and fuel supplies.
02:47And when these ran out, the sub would be forced to surface and refuel.
02:54But while most of us are familiar with submarines from old times,
02:57compared with the leaky tin cans of the Second World War,
02:59the HMS Superb is light years ahead.
03:06Because, amazingly, the Superb can stay submerged for up to three months.
03:13For a start, she will never run out of oxygen, because, incredibly, she makes her own.
03:17And she makes her own drinking water companion.
03:20In fact, as far as I can tell, the only reason she comes up at all
03:23is because the crew are absolutely starving.
03:26And, amazing though this sub is, it's useless when it comes to fishing.
03:31But, of course, there's one more reason this sub can stay submerged for so long.
03:35And that's her fuel.
03:39Down there is the powerhouse.
03:41The Rolls-Royce Superb.
03:43This is where the powerhouse is located.
03:47Down there is the powerhouse.
03:49The Rolls-Royce pressurised and water-cooled nuclear reactors
03:52that drive steam to two turbines.
03:56But, unfortunately, we can't film it, because it's too top secret.
04:04HMS Superb's nuclear reactor can take her dozens of times around the world without refuelling.
04:11And the crew can only glimpse the outside world through the periscope.
04:14And precious few of them get a chance to do that.
04:21Wow.
04:24Very good.
04:26I'm just following the police boat in the crosshairs here.
04:30If I had a gun, though, I could get him.
04:33He's worried now, he's worried, this policeman.
04:38Enemy seagull.
04:40Peeking at potential targets reminds you what an immensely powerful weapon this is.
04:45You've just got to remember to keep your thumb off the red button.
04:50With its live nuclear reactor, this sub never sleeps.
04:53You just can't turn it off.
04:57The crew of 116 men serves in shifts.
05:00Six hours on, six hours off.
05:02So you only need beds for half of them at any one time.
05:06There's not much room, is there?
05:08No, there's not.
05:09I mean, there's not much room, actually, to get ambulates.
05:12No.
05:13So that's a deal with that side.
05:15Three beds.
05:16Oh, there's three?
05:17Oh, sorry.
05:20So even if you could get a woman back here?
05:22Yeah.
05:23And the fun thing is that you have two people to the same, to the one bed.
05:26Obviously, they do it at the hot bunk.
05:28One person will be on, another person will be on water.
05:30That means you must have to trust your fellow.
05:32You do, yes.
05:33There must be certain rules.
05:35Yeah, make sure he showers.
05:39So much for the scurvy sea dogs down in the hold.
05:42But where are the luxurious officers' quarters?
05:45I go in search of white mist jackets, port and cigars.
05:48But what do I find?
05:51Come on.
05:54Now, this is the captain's cabin.
05:57The reward you get for driving a multimillion-pound piece of naval machinery
06:01is a cabin of your own like this
06:03and a tiny single bed with a flowery cover to sleep in.
06:07You don't get much sleep because you're right next to the control room
06:09where it's very, very noisy.
06:11But look, you also get a map, computer, telephone and a curly whirly.
06:18But there's more to life on board a nuclear submarine
06:20than just fun and chocolate bars.
06:22Sometimes you have to get down to business.
06:25And swifts yours can be stuffed to the gills with cruise missiles
06:29which can shoot out of the water, fly a few hundred miles,
06:32locate Nine Vicarage Terrace and then take out the rear extension
06:36of definitively half of Birmingham.
06:38Now, there's a thought.
06:40Two swiftsure subs saw action in the Falklands War
06:43and superb sister sub HMS Splendid
06:46fired conventional cruise missiles during the Kosovo War.
06:49On board was Chief Petty Officer Coxon David Diffie.
06:53What sort of experience was that?
06:55It's very strange, actually, because you practice it, obviously, all the time.
06:59But to actually do it for real was a very strange experience
07:02and very sobering, actually.
07:04When we actually fired, everything was very quiet after it
07:07and I think people were just taking time, really,
07:09to reflect on the enormity of what they'd just seen.
07:13It's a humbling experience coming aboard HMS Superb.
07:16It clearly takes real skill and guts to operate something as complicated
07:19and dangerous as a nuclear sub.
07:22And yet these guys do it without a break for months on end,
07:25crammed together like sardines.
07:29I must say, one of the most incredible things about this vessel is
07:32nothing to do with the engineering and the mechanics,
07:35the weaponry or anything.
07:37It's an absolutely really cramped, confined space
07:40and yet the crew are the nicest, politest, long-suffering people
07:43I've ever met in any working environment.
07:46I've been really impressed with the politeness and friendliness and courtesy.
07:49People do get out of your way.
07:51I think it must be a pain in the arse having a film crew on board
07:53and yet they've been fantastic.
07:56So thanks very much for having us on board.
07:58Thanks again. It's been fantastic.
08:00It's no surprise that the British take such pride in their navy.
08:03As history tells us, we owe the freedom and independence we take for granted
08:07in no small part to warships like HMS Superb
08:10and her completely admirable, curly-whirly, munching crew.
08:18Oh, Britannia, Britannia rule the waves.
08:21Britons never, never, ever will be slaves.
08:25What a great song that is.
08:27It's the only winner of the 1741 Eurovision Song Contest
08:30and what better place to sing it than here in the Royal Naval Dockyard in Portsmouth.
08:37Britannia rule the waves because Britain was the first great trading nation of modern times.
08:42Mind you, the Dutch might have something to say about that.
08:46But who cares about the Dutch with their silly clogs?
08:50Before the Brits, warships were clumsy, floating castles
08:54and uncommanded by generals, all at sea.
08:57Our ships were faster and lighter
08:59and they were captained by real man-and-boy sailors.
09:03So when it came to war at sea with Napoleon,
09:06there was only ever going to be one winner.
09:11I'm here to see the most famous ship ever commissioned,
09:14the ship that just before the Battle of Trafalgar
09:17signalled those famous words,
09:19England expects every man will do his duty.
09:28HMS Victory entered history on October 21st, 1805,
09:32the day Nelson taught Napoleon just who ruled the waves.
09:41Napoleon had swept across Europe, apparently invincible,
09:44at the head of the largest army ever assembled.
09:47To conquer England, he put together a massive fleet.
09:50But his admirals had learned to fear the English sea dogs
09:53and only timorously left the port of Cadiz.
09:56They should have stayed at home.
10:00As the enemy drew near, Nelson commanded his ships to attack in a line,
10:0490 degrees to the enemy, a tactic never previously seen.
10:08This became known as the Nelson Touch
10:11and secured a crushing victory for the English at Trafalgar.
10:18Morning. Don't salute, please, don't salute.
10:21It just upsets the other ranks.
10:25The Victory was recognised in her day as one of the fastest,
10:28most agile, most heavily armed warships on the high seas.
10:32She crammed a heck of a lot into a small space.
10:35She is only 17m long,
10:37that's 13m shorter than the submarine HMS Superb.
10:41But she carried eight times as many men, 850 at full strength,
10:45so there wasn't much privacy here either.
10:48Peter Goodwin knows her secrets better than anyone.
10:51He's been the ship's keeper for 16 years.
10:54Now, Peter, I don't know anything about the technical details of a ship,
10:58but there's a lot of rope, isn't there?
11:00There is a lot of rope. Basically, she's what's known as a ship-rigged ship.
11:04She has three vertical masts.
11:06What you're looking up around us
11:08is something in the region of 26 miles of rigging cordage.
11:13And up there with these pulley blocks,
11:15there'll be something like 768 blocks up there.
11:19And if you think about the fact that there's another three miles of rope for the guns
11:25and another 628 blocks for the guns alone,
11:29and if you think about men making all the blocks at about eight hours apiece,
11:34then you're talking about 12,000-odd man-hours in this ship alone.
11:41The Victory, which was designed by Sir Thomas Slade,
11:43is one incredible bit of woodwork.
11:46No fewer than 6,000 trees were felled to build her,
11:4990% of them English oak,
11:51with a few elms, firs and pines for decoration.
11:55Even in those days, building warships took money.
11:58The Victory, which was ordered in 1758,
12:01cost £63,000, which is equivalent to about £50 million today.
12:10Now, listen, we can't ignore this huge thing that we're leaning on.
12:13It's a gun.
12:14It is a gun. It's called a carronade.
12:16It is a small, lightweight gun that fires a heavy shot at a low velocity.
12:20So what range would this have, then?
12:22Only about 370 yards.
12:24So you've got to be fairly close.
12:25Fairly close, yes.
12:27But it was good at close-range work
12:29because you could actually load it up with a canister shot
12:32containing 500 musket balls.
12:35Firing from this gun is like having a complete batch of infantry with muskets.
12:40So bad news for the French and Spanish.
12:42Bad news for anybody on the other end of this.
12:46When the two fleets collided at Trafalgar,
12:48they carried over 5,600 guns between them.
12:53That's a lot of guns requiring a lot of gunpowder.
12:56Storing the stuff on board, of course, was a tricky business.
13:00It was kept in a room called the magazine,
13:02and when the Victory's was full,
13:04it contained an unsettling 35 tonnes of gunpowder.
13:08Just what you need to keep your cannons firing like blazes.
13:12But you don't want anyone coming in here and sneezing.
13:16I notice that there's copper on the wall over here.
13:19Yes, the copper.
13:20Huge copper plates.
13:21It's here for two reasons.
13:23One, it prevents sparks.
13:25The other thing is it keeps it a dry lining
13:28because you've also got three layers of timber
13:31that bind the copper as well to prevent water ingress.
13:34So the nails, for example?
13:36Nails are all copper and everything like that.
13:39The bolts are copper.
13:40They've thought of everything.
13:42But the other reason for the copper
13:44is also to stop rats getting in here.
13:48If you get rats training gunpowder around the ship,
13:51then you've got serious problems.
13:53Like a tiny grenade on four legs.
13:55Yes.
13:57But it wasn't exploding rats that saw off Napoleon's fleet.
14:01On 21st October 1805,
14:04Victory's guns were red-hot
14:06as they raked the huge Spanish ship Santissima Trinidad.
14:10Then she closed with another French warship.
14:13This is the exact spot where Nelson fell.
14:17I think he tripped over this brass plate
14:19that someone's left on the deck.
14:20What happened was he was standing here on the Victory
14:23and the French ship Le Redoutable,
14:26which, of course, means redoubtable,
14:28whatever that means,
14:29that was pulled up alongside
14:31and a sniper high up in the rigging shot a musket ball
14:34and it pierced Nelson through the shoulder,
14:36went down through his lung and got lodged in his spine.
14:41Nelson died, but the Victory was, of course, victorious.
14:46What made this such a superb warship was not her size.
14:49Some of the French and Spanish ships in Trafalgar were much bigger.
14:53But she was a sailor's ship,
14:55one of the fastest of her era.
14:57With her highly complex sail configuration,
15:00she had extraordinary manoeuvrability.
15:02She also had massive firepower,
15:04carrying over 100 guns.
15:07And, of course, she had Nelson,
15:09who, like Drake before him, was a legend in his own time.
15:14Look at this. Nelson's actual diary.
15:17Dear diary. Got up, had breakfast,
15:21beat the French, went to bed.
15:23Fantastic. What a day's work.
15:28All the latest technologies of the day
15:30combined to make HMS Victory
15:32the most powerful war machine in the world.
15:35She was also a magnificent piece of living history.
15:38Shame about the colour, though.
15:40I mean, what were they thinking? Orange and black?
15:42I mean, come on, Royal Navy, you can do better than that.
15:45Maybe it was a wolf supporter painted it.
15:48The Victory was the last iconic warship of the Age of Sail.
15:52The world was changing,
15:54and it was we British who were changing it.
15:57The Age of Machines was dawning,
15:59and this, in turn, revolutionised how we built our ships.
16:03A long history of war,
16:05a long history of wooden sailing ships was drawing to a close.
16:08The era of metal seafaring machines was beginning.
16:12In this series, again and again,
16:14I've come across one name,
16:16Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
16:18Well, OK, three names.
16:21He was, beyond any doubt,
16:23the greatest engineer the world has ever known.
16:25A typical Victorian, driven by a desire for progress
16:28and a conviction that everything was possible.
16:31He built spectacular new structures,
16:33like the Clifton Suspension Bridge,
16:35spanning the vast Avon Gorge.
16:38His Great Western Railway sliced through the British countryside
16:41and launched a new age of high-speed travel.
16:44And with the SS Great Britain,
16:46he planned a new kind of ship
16:48to link Britain with its empire and former colonies.
16:53Brunel aimed at nothing less than a revolution in seafaring,
16:56to apply the lessons of the Civil War
16:58to the world of navigation.
17:01It was the mid-1800s, and Brunel was on a roll.
17:04He'd built the Great Western Steamship,
17:06work was progressing on the Clifton Suspension Bridge,
17:09and the Great Western Railway was up and running.
17:11He declared himself the engineer of the finest work in Britain.
17:15And, indeed, he was.
17:22The SS Great Britain represents the single largest ship
17:26The SS Great Britain represents the single biggest leap forward
17:29in the history of naval architecture.
17:32It was, for its time, the most audacious ship imaginable.
17:37Ships were made out of wood.
17:38Everyone knew that.
17:39They always had been.
17:41Wood floats.
17:43Brunel decided to make a giant ship
17:45out of a brand-new heavy material called wrought iron.
17:51And although his ship had sails,
17:53its main method of propulsion would be another brand-new invention,
17:56a screw propeller.
18:00And not only was Brunel's bizarre new ship to be made of iron,
18:03not only was it to have a massive, weird, whirly thing on the back,
18:07but this monstrous creation was to be the biggest ship ever built.
18:12She is a huge beast,
18:13and we live in the age of the supertanker,
18:15and it looks big to us.
18:16Imagine what the Victorians made of it.
18:18And this ship was 100 foot longer than any other ship of its time.
18:22The leading expert on the SS Great Britain is Nicholas Fogg.
18:26Why did he go for such size?
18:28Because he wanted to dominate the Atlantic routes.
18:31He wanted to build a passenger liner.
18:33There was a huge cargo opportunity as well.
18:36And he saw that technology was there to do it.
18:39And he made this great, bold stroke
18:41of huge numbers of innovations in order to achieve it.
18:46Everyone was convinced you couldn't build an iron ship.
18:49Apart from anything else, the compass wouldn't work.
18:54At first, Brunel had no answer to the compass problem,
18:57so he reluctantly agreed to build his ship from wood,
19:00and huge amounts of African oak were ordered.
19:04But just then, a new compass came on the market,
19:06which could operate in the presence of iron.
19:10To the horror of his clients,
19:11Brunel dumped the wood and ordered instead vast quantities of wrought iron.
19:17He wasn't a good man for a board of directors.
19:20The accountants are going berserk by this time, yes.
19:22Absolutely.
19:24Brunel's original plan was to power the Great Britain by huge paddles.
19:28But then he heard about screw propulsion
19:30and attended the early trials of some small-scale prototypes.
19:34Think big was his motto.
19:36He decided to seize on the propeller idea
19:38and apply it on a massive scale.
19:40And he convinced the Great Western Steamship Company
19:43to back his revolutionary approach.
19:47Did people scoff at the idea of a propeller powering a ship in those days?
19:51They thought it was a bit amazing.
19:53I don't know if they actually...
19:54I think they were a bit mesmerised by Brunel.
19:56That's why he got away with so much, you know.
19:58Cos they'd look very silly if he was proved right.
20:02But it's absolutely huge.
20:04It is.
20:05It's a leap from something very tiny to something absolutely huge.
20:09There were problems with it.
20:10It was made of cast iron,
20:11and of course the sheer stress of ocean voyaging
20:15meant that the propeller was apt to snap and break.
20:19But Brunel's design,
20:21it was just that it was so far in front of the materials he had available,
20:26but it was hugely efficient.
20:28I mean, brilliantly done.
20:31The original iron propeller was 15 feet 6 inches in diameter
20:35and weighed more than 3 tonnes.
20:37It was driven by the most powerful steam engine in the world,
20:40fuelled by 1,000 tonnes of coal on every Atlantic crossing.
20:46Everything about the SS Great Britain was huge.
20:52The Trotman-designed anchor had greater holding power
20:54than any anchor in existence.
20:58The funnel is 38 feet high.
21:02The main mast is 95 feet long.
21:04It weighs 17 tonnes,
21:05and it's made from four trees banded together.
21:10The main yard is 104 feet long.
21:12It weighs four tonnes and supported the biggest sail ever.
21:20The Great Britain is what's called clinker-built,
21:23which means it's made of thousands of iron plates
21:25which overlap each other and are riveted together.
21:29This made the hull strong and watertight,
21:31but it took a vast army of blacksmiths
21:33and literally millions of rivets.
21:37To see how daunting this task was,
21:39I've decided to do a spot of riveting myself.
21:43Come on, Rory!
21:44Clare Barrett, our series engineer,
21:46has got us into a traditional forge.
21:49In Brunel's day, they worked in gangs.
21:53Forgemaster Mark making the rivets,
21:56heater boy Clare ferrying the rivets to the job,
21:59jam-pack Sean holding up the rivet,
22:03and riveter Rory bashing away like a man possessed.
22:09It's hard work.
22:11It's officially hard work.
22:15So I've done three.
22:17Only another 50,000 to go.
22:20I've gone for the not-quite-flush effect.
22:22What do you think?
22:23That's not a bad effect, actually, for the first go.
22:25I've done three and need the rest of the day off.
22:27What would it hand rivet to do in a shipyard on an island?
22:29I don't know.
22:30I don't know.
22:31I don't know.
22:32I don't know.
22:33I don't know.
22:34I don't know.
22:35I don't know.
22:36I don't know.
22:37I don't know.
22:38What would it hand rivet to do in a shipyard, on average?
22:40Well, I mean, you've got to be doing between 20 and 50 an hour each
22:44to make it cost-effective.
22:46So it's a lot of hard work.
22:47I mean, a gang of four men working hard together.
22:50And when you consider that,
22:51I mean, you've put three in,
22:52but when you consider that about seven to eight percent
22:55of all the material in an iron ship is rivets,
22:58that's a lot of rivets.
22:59I mean, there'd be millions of rivets in a ship.
23:01And about 35 to 40 percent of all labour is riveting.
23:06Halfway by the 1890s,
23:08they'd invented a pneumatic riveting machine,
23:10which transformed Britain's shipbuilding industry.
23:14But in terms of shipbuilding here,
23:16this must have made a hell of a difference.
23:18This speeded up the process.
23:20It also gave you a system whereby you could achieve
23:23a similar standard all the way through.
23:25Once you'd learnt your trade, you could repeat it.
23:28You really have to admire people like Brunel
23:30for taking these huge risks
23:31and building these enormous ships like Great Britain.
23:33The vision they had was unsurpassed, really.
23:36They were great men.
23:39The SS Great Britain made her first voyage to New York.
23:43It took her only 14 days, 21 hours, a new record.
23:48Her passengers lived in luxury.
23:50She could carry 116 first-class passengers in 71 cabins
23:54and 132 second-class passengers in another 66 cabins.
24:00But it wasn't plain sailing for Brunel's iron ship.
24:03On her second voyage, most of the propeller blades fell off
24:06and a new four-bladed screw had to be fitted.
24:11On her fifth voyage, she ran aground off the Irish coast.
24:14Teething problems with a new compass
24:16led the crew to think they were off the Isle of Man.
24:20But that's how it goes.
24:22Brunel was great not because he always got it right.
24:25He was great because he wasn't afraid of trying something new.
24:28Even if he sometimes got it wrong.
24:30The SS Great Britain was way ahead of her time.
24:33Even after this disastrous start,
24:35she went on to be part of a very successful operation.
24:39But by the 1870s, her career was over.
24:42She was superseded by better ships.
24:45But they were better only because Brunel had shown the world
24:48it was possible to build mechanical steel ships.
24:52Restored here in Bristol, she reminds us of man's engineering skill
24:55and his irrepressible spirit.
24:58For all her masts and rigging,
25:00Brunel's SS Great Britain was something new.
25:03The world's first modern ship.
25:12Despite being an A-list international celebrity,
25:15I'm not sure I suit California.
25:17This is a land of rollerblades and personal trainers
25:20and alcohol-free wine.
25:22Here men wear suits and jogging shoes at the same time.
25:26Californians have many fine qualities,
25:28but high on the list you won't find sophistication or style.
25:33That's where we come in.
25:35Because when it comes to ships,
25:37you don't get more sophisticated and stylish than this one.
25:40Not that one.
25:42This one.
25:44Think Noel Coward.
25:46Think cigarette holders and cocktail shakers.
25:49Think of the ultimate icon of art deco,
25:52and here it is, the Queen Mary.
25:56I'm not sure the denizens of Long Beach deserve her,
25:59but here the old girl sits, having found her place in the sun.
26:03She simply is the most glamorous ship ever.
26:07She was also in her time an engineering marvel,
26:10the biggest, fastest passenger liner ever built.
26:20The Queen Mary was a floating fantasy.
26:24She carried kings and queens,
26:26steel magnets and statesmen,
26:28socialites and Hollywood stars.
26:30Everyone from Winston Churchill to Charlie Chaplin
26:33got done up to the nines to promenade along her decks.
26:40To find out more about this floating fantasy palace,
26:43I went to meet with an expert on the history of the ship,
26:46the executive director of the Queen Mary Foundation,
26:49Bruce Fancy.
26:52So, Bruce, in terms of hard bucks,
26:54how much did the first class return on the Queen Mary?
26:57First class would be about $250, $350 round trip.
27:00Yeah. What did you get for that?
27:02Well, you got a stateroom with a private bathroom,
27:05private facilities. Only first class got that.
27:07All right.
27:08Second class only had a water closet.
27:10Third class, you had a sink and a chamber pot,
27:12and you had to go down the hall and make appointments
27:15for your bath.
27:16What about the people in Steerage?
27:18Steerage had to use the portholes.
27:20Because they had to hold till they got to New York.
27:22They had to hold, yes.
27:23The Queen Mary left Southampton for a maiden voyage
27:26to New York on May 27th, 1936.
27:31Filled with nearly 2,000 passengers and a crew of 1,200,
27:34Britain's prize liner headed for the open seas of the Atlantic.
27:39When she arrived in America, she was bigger than the Beatles.
27:42The American press marvelled at her 10 million rivets,
27:452,000 portholes and windows, 2,500 square feet of glass
27:50and 257,000 turbine blades.
27:53Not to mention the 600 telephones,
27:55210,000 towels and 700 clocks.
27:59Now, one amazing thing about the Queen Mary.
28:01Now, this is a special treat for you. Listen to this.
28:04Any minute now. Any second now.
28:08Yeah.
28:09Tension.
28:13Oh!
28:21Oh!
28:23F*** me!
28:27This is the engine room that powered the Queen Mary
28:30to her record-breaking speed.
28:3240 feet below the waterline,
28:34the mightiest assembly of machinery ever constructed on a liner.
28:39Over 100 officers per shift watched over these gigantic engines.
28:44The high-pressure turbines which turned the four propellers
28:47produced an awesome 160,000 horsepower.
28:53The steam needed to drive them was superheated to 720 degrees
28:58and they needed so much of it,
29:00the engines drank 3.5 million gallons of seawater every day.
29:05Also, the huge 35-ton propellers could turn three times a second,
29:09pushing the 81,000-ton ship across the Atlantic
29:12at over 30 miles an hour.
29:16In March 1936, she took the blue ribbon
29:19for the fastest Atlantic crossing
29:21at an average speed of 30.63 knots.
29:24She beat the record again two years later,
29:26setting a mark of three days, 20 hours and 42 minutes.
29:30In all, she held the record for 14 years.
29:35Brunel would have been impressed
29:37that Queen Mary was one heck of a steamship.
29:43Speed was absolutely the essential thing,
29:45but not for the reason people think.
29:47Everyone thinks the passenger's one of the fastest crossing.
29:49Not true.
29:50It had to do with the mail contracts.
29:52This was the RMS Queen Mary.
29:54She was a royal mail steamer
29:56and it was the mail contracts on both sides of the Atlantic
29:58that brought you the big bucks
30:00that let you pay for a ship like this in the first place.
30:02So money.
30:04Money. It all comes down to money.
30:09When World War II broke out,
30:11the Queen Mary was pressed into service as a troop carrier.
30:16During the war, she set the world record
30:18for the greatest number of people aboard a single ship
30:20at any one time.
30:2116,683.
30:24Imagine that.
30:25Almost 17,000 people on one ship.
30:29It was cramming the vessel to capacity.
30:31So they couldn't use the ballroom
30:33and all the first-class luxury places.
30:36They filled them with bunks.
30:38Sometimes 21 high.
30:40If you had the top bunk, you had to climb before you got to bed.
30:42Did that affect the way the ship performed in the water,
30:45having that weight on board?
30:47Well, she performed kind of heavy.
30:49They had a problem in New York.
30:51As they went past the Statue of Liberty,
30:53everybody wanted to go to that side of the ship.
30:55They actually had to tell the soldiers,
30:57because the ship will start to lift too much.
30:59And she did.
31:01Churchill said the efforts of the Queen Mary
31:03and her sister ship, the Queen Elizabeth,
31:05shortened the war by a year.
31:08Hitler, too, realized their importance.
31:10He offered his U-boat captain
31:12the equivalent of £150,000,
31:15plus the Iron Cross, for sinking a Queen.
31:18The U-boats failed, and both ships survived the war.
31:22After the war, of course,
31:23the passenger jet plane came and spoiled the party.
31:27By 1967, the Queen Mary was in mothballs.
31:33After completing her 1001st transatlantic voyage,
31:36she was towed here to Long Beach in California,
31:39where she attracts two million visitors a year.
31:41A monument to a time not that long ago
31:44when British ships still set the standard for the world.
31:57With ships like the all-conquering Victory,
31:59the pioneering SS Great Britain,
32:01and the luxurious Queen Mary,
32:03Britannia could indeed lay claim to ruling the waves.
32:07But there is yet another type of ship
32:09which the British pioneered.
32:11That is the lifeboat.
32:16By 1824, the number of lives lost at sea was so great,
32:19the philanthropist called Sir William Hillary
32:22founded an organisation which would become
32:24the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.
32:26And I'm off to visit one of the most successful lifeboats ever designed.
32:37This is the Tyne-class lifeboat.
32:40It's a design classic.
32:43Since 1982, this extraordinary and highly sophisticated vessel
32:46has been in service at lifeboat stations around the UK.
32:5040 of these ships were built at a cost of £560,000 each.
32:56To date, they have rescued some 2,000 people
32:58from the treacherous waters around Britain.
33:04Here at Selsey in Sussex,
33:06there's been a lifeboat station since 1861.
33:10But back then, the rescue teams
33:12didn't have the luxury of a Tyne-class vessel.
33:16They had to rely on an open boat,
33:1825 feet long and powered by 12 strong men
33:20rowing into the storm.
33:23But as lifeboat design evolved,
33:25it soon became clear they needed a craft
33:27that was not only faster in the water,
33:29but also faster to launch.
33:32The solution lay in the use of a slipway.
33:36But in order to create a boat that could fit into existing stations
33:39and be launched with slipway,
33:41an entirely new hull design was required.
33:45And this is it.
33:46The world's first fast slipway lifeboat.
33:50Let's talk about this boat,
33:51because this is the first time I've seen a lifeboat close up.
33:53And what I think is it's so clean and so beautiful.
33:56I can't believe we've ever launched it before.
33:58It's just beautiful.
33:59Well, it was actually in the water last night on a training exercise.
34:01That's incredible.
34:02Not a barnacle in sight.
34:03Not a barnacle in sight, no.
34:05What I know about this boat is it's called a lifeboat.
34:07Yes.
34:08Yeah.
34:09But there are lots of different sorts of lifeboats, I presume.
34:11Yeah.
34:12This is a blue and white one.
34:13It's a blue and white Tyne-class lifeboat.
34:15Yes.
34:16OK, so does that mean it was made on Tyne-Tyne?
34:18No, no.
34:19The classes of lifeboat are named after rivers around the country.
34:23We have Severn, Trent, Smersey, Arran in the past.
34:26Are they all different models?
34:27They're all different classes, different types.
34:30The Tyne-class was specifically built to go into boathouses like this,
34:34and it was designed around the existing boathouses
34:37so that it would fit straight in without alteration,
34:39which is why it's a fairly low profile compared to the modern lifeboats.
34:44The front is rounded to give a soft entry into the water,
34:47while the rear is flattened for speed.
34:50Meanwhile, the propellers and rudder are carefully tucked away
34:53to ensure they aren't torn off when the boat is launched.
34:56It really is a beautiful piece of engineering.
35:03The Tyne-class lifeboat is as good as useless
35:05without the commitment of the crew who man it,
35:08so I felt privileged when they asked me to join them on a rescue exercise.
35:13Unfortunately, I soon found myself regretting that morning's full English breakfast,
35:17which not only threatened to make a reappearance when we were actually out on the water,
35:21but also made putting on my lifeboat uniform a tight squeeze.
35:25This one's blocked at the knee, this one.
35:29He's giving me a joke costume.
35:32It's nice and heavy.
35:34Don't give me any confidence having a lifejacket that weighs a tonne.
35:37No, they are automatic.
35:39Thank God.
35:41Luckily, this wasn't a real emergency,
35:43as it took forever to put my safety gear on.
35:46But being part of a lifeboat crew is all about teamwork.
35:49I'll do your clutch straps.
35:51I'll do your... No, I won't.
35:54There's only one way to find out how good the Tyne-class boat is,
35:57and that's to go out to sea in one.
35:59OK, Coxswain, when you're ready.
36:01OK, Geoff, come with the engines, please.
36:04You all right? You look nervous.
36:09Check with your mirror.
36:11Everybody ready?
36:21Yes!
36:22Oh, what a wonderful feeling that is.
36:26Magic.
36:27Let's go and do it again. That was wonderful.
36:30The Tyne-class is an impressive piece of design
36:32to look at out of the water,
36:34but when it hits the sea,
36:36you really begin to appreciate just what an awesome machine it is.
36:3947 feet long, with a displacement of 26 tonnes,
36:42it is capable of travelling up to 240 nautical miles
36:45at a speed of almost 18 knots.
36:48And down below are two phenomenally powerful engines,
36:51previously used to build the Tyne-class.
36:54The Tyne-class is the first lifeboat
36:56with two phenomenally powerful engines,
36:58previously used to power Sherman tanks.
37:01Guzzling fuel at an astonishing 30 gallons per hour,
37:04they manage a grand total of two miles to the gallon.
37:08OK, that may sound like rotten fuel economy,
37:11but it certainly makes for one hell of a ride.
37:14As impressive as all this is,
37:16the Tyne-class has yet one more trip up its sleeve.
37:20The Tyne-class is all but unsinkable.
37:24Time now for a little physics lesson from Claire Barrett.
37:28You don't look very happy.
37:30The question I'm going to ask you, Claire,
37:32is why have you brought me here with two large rubber ducks?
37:35Well, humanity's been making ships and boats
37:38for hundreds and hundreds of years,
37:40but they've only really got the hang
37:42of trying to get things to self-right in the last hundred years.
37:45So do we have here a self-righting duck and a non-self-righting duck?
37:49And you're going to explain physically the difference?
37:52Yes. Well, I mean, we've got the concept of ballast.
37:55I don't feel at all foolish, by the way.
37:57You don't? Good.
37:58Standing here, people walking past.
38:00As good as a security in your...
38:02Yes, that's right, we're doing a physics programme, honestly.
38:05Top science.
38:06Right, my duck is going in the water.
38:08Right, so the idea is...
38:12Look at that.
38:13Glory. He's capsized.
38:15A non-self-righting duck.
38:17And if I launch mine, which has got my ballast
38:20carefully tied to the end...
38:27Hard on that, Claire. Come on.
38:31It just won't go down, will it?
38:33Airtight top and proper ballast on the bottom.
38:36I'll go here first, ladies and gentlemen.
38:38You know what, Claire, this is the only bird I've pulled today.
38:43In fact, for ten years, I should say.
38:46And to make sure the modern lifeboat
38:48isn't just a dead duck in the water,
38:50it follows the same principles.
38:53The engines are at the bottom of the hull to provide ballast,
38:56while the cabin area is not just waterproof,
38:58it's completely airtight.
39:00So even if the boat is flipped upside down,
39:03its centre of gravity means it simply rights itself.
39:09But while the time-class lifeboat might be unsinkable,
39:12the same isn't true of our crew member
39:14who has the unenviable task of being dumped in the sea
39:17as part of a training process.
39:19Ready to go, mate? Push!
39:22Row the boat! Row the boat! Row the boat!
39:27I would have volunteered myself,
39:29but it's clearly a specialist job.
39:32Fortunately for our volunteer,
39:34the team quickly swing into action
39:36and soon have him back on board,
39:38leaving me just enough time to have a little fun.
39:40I think I'd better drive. Can I have a go, Martin?
39:42You certainly can.
39:44Steering's exactly the same as a car.
39:46Turn to the left, it'll go to the left.
39:48Port and starboard.
39:50The control's here. Further forward you push it.
39:52Okay.
39:54Hang on tight, everybody!
40:02Whee!
40:08Look at her hands!
40:16Thanks a lot for messing with the runner!
40:19As I watched the crew set about their work,
40:21I thought that if I were ever unfortunate enough
40:23to be stranded in the oceans,
40:25there could be no better sight
40:27than a time-class lifeboat speeding towards me
40:29to pull me out of a drink.
40:31Mmm, drink. Now there's an idea.
40:36For my money, the lifeboat is the greatest engineering icon of all time.
40:40But perhaps more than with any other icon,
40:42it's impossible to separate the object
40:44from the people who run it.
40:46The time-class is a pretty boat, it's a clever boat,
40:49but with the training, dedication and courage of the men on board,
40:52it becomes an unbeatable world-class lifesaver.
40:56Drink?
40:58British designers and engineers
41:00have created some of the finest vessels ever to take to the seas,
41:03or sneakily disappear under them, for that matter,
41:06like the ominous Swift Shore submarine.
41:10Meanwhile, it was rural Britannia
41:12as I sailed a wave of patches
41:14with Nelson's old flagship, the Victory.
41:19Then there was the riveting and comprehensively riveted
41:22Brunel masterpiece, the SS Great Britain.
41:26Fast-launching, gas-guzzling and self-righting
41:28was the time-class lifeboat.
41:32While there was one old queen that merely gave me the horn.
41:37But at last...
41:39Let's face it, Claire, we are an island.
41:41A maritime nation.
41:42Great Britain, the eighth biggest island in the world.
41:44Surrounded by...
41:45Sea?
41:46Water.
41:47So to get off it, no wonder we built such amazing ships.
41:50We were the best navy,
41:51because we wouldn't let any other navy get out to practice.
41:54That's where the Victory came in.
41:55What a victory.
41:57But I quite like Brunel's SS Great Britain.
42:01What a fantastic risk to have built that.
42:04Out of iron, yeah, with a propeller.
42:06Lots of confidence.
42:07Big problem, big solution.
42:09The luxury side of the maritime world, though.
42:12Queen Mary.
42:13Did you like it?
42:15I loved the Queen Mary.
42:16It was very opulent, all art deco stuff.
42:19The lifeboats, I think, are fantastic.
42:21What a really clever idea.
42:23What I remember most about the lifeboat were the people on it.
42:26You can't really separate the ship from its crew.
42:30You're like a submarine crew on the Swiss shore HMS Superb.
42:33Thanks very much for having us on board.
42:35Would you say you're a good sailor, Rory?
42:37A very good sailor, actually, yeah.
42:38Hang on tight, everybody.
42:42What about you, Claire?
42:44I'm fine on the Victory.
42:47No seasickness there.
42:48As long as it's bolted to a dry dock.
42:49That's right.
42:51Each of our five ships has, in its turn,
42:53written itself into British history.
42:56So when it comes to choosing one vessel above the others,
42:58I'm faced with a difficult choice.
43:02But if I have to pick just one,
43:04I'd probably go for the Time Class lifeboat,
43:06not just for her fabulous design and engineering,
43:09but also for the skill and dedication of the crew who manned her.
43:13So it's goodbye from me, Claire, and the ships.
43:16Goodbye.
43:17Goodbye.
43:18Only the ships can't actually talk, can they?
43:20No.
43:21Because they'd be very good ships.
43:22Yes.
43:23I mean, you get a submarine that can actually talk.
43:24Yeah, but that's a completely different series.
43:25Yeah, yeah.
43:26I think animation would be involved.
43:27I think the British probably could come up with a talking submarine
43:28more than any other nation.