NARRATOR: This time on Combat Ships...
Courageous captains lead their ships into battle.
(SPLASHES)
He didn't weigh the consequences.
MAN: He just knew that he had to head straight for them.
NARRATOR: Pushing their vessels and crews to the limit...
This is a ship which is being held together
almost against the laws of physics.
NARRATOR: Risking everything to achieve their objective.
It's the recognition of him as a hero,
not as a Black hero, but as a hero.
NARRATOR: With skill and courage,
these captains left their mark on history.
(THEME MUSIC PLAYING)
(EXPLOSIONS)
(BLADES WHIRRING)
NARRATOR: April 28, 1975. South Vietnam...
During the final evacuation of Saigon,
thousands of refugees
are ferried to the aircraft carrier USS Midway.
Her Captain, Larry Chambers has to manage the crisis.
CHAMBERS: I thought we were prepared.
Nothing that we thought about, planned about
was anything like the onslaught.
NARRATOR: To make matters worse
dozens of aircraft land on Midway and crowd the deck,
complicating the evacuation.
The captain is forced to make a fateful decision.
Larry Chambers is an experienced officer,
he had faced challenges throughout his Naval career.
In 1952, he becomes only the second African American
to graduate from the US Naval Academy.
He faces prejudice from day one.
CHAMBERS: I had a little trouble deciding who I could trust,
and so I was pretty much of a loner,
and my attitude was I'm gonna do the damn job
so much better than anybody else,
they'll have to have to recognize it.
NARRATOR: Chambers' ambition
is to command an aircraft carrier.
In March, 1975, after 20 years of service,
he is finally given charge of an exceptional combat ship...
The USS Midway.
It's like that sports car you wish you had,
uh, now you got it and it's yours.
NARRATOR: Captain Chambers is the first African-American
in charge of the carrier.
(SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)
NARRATOR: But in March, 1975, just days after his appointment,
Midway is plunged into the chaos od the Vietnam war.
(CLAMORING)
NARRATOR: The fight against the communist North Vietnamese
is drawing to a close. - (GUN FIRES)
NARRATOR: Most American troops have been withdrawn.
The South Vietnamese struggle as the North advances.
(EXPLOSION) - They just broke the dams open
and kept proceeding
to the point where the South Vietnamese military
was rapidly collapsing under their pressure.
NARRATOR: By early April, 1975,
it's clear the South's capital Saigon will soon be overrun.
(SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)
NARRATOR: The US begins the evacuation
of its personnel and local allies deemed at risk.
They send the US Navy to assist.
On the Midway, Captain Chambers receives orders
to take on board 10 HH-53 helicopters
known as Jolly Green Giants,
and to join a Task Force off the coast of Vietnam.
On April 29th the North Vietnamese troops
reach Saigon.
The US urgently orders the final phase
of the evacuation to begin,
codenamed, Operation Frequent Wind.
(BLADES WHIRRING)
NARRATOR: Helicopters from USS Midway and USS Hancock
head to Saigon to rescue any remaining US civilians
and high-ranking Vietnamese.
(BLADES WHIRRING)
NARRATOR: The city is overrun with people desperate to escape.
There was this general fear throughout the population,
that scores are going to be settled
for all these years and decades
of strife in that part of the world.
NARRATOR: On Midway, Captain Chambers waits
for the first helicopter to return,
not knowing what to expect.
(BLADES WHIRRING)
CHAMBERS: When the HH-53s, the Jolly Greens landed onboard
and over 200 people came out of those helicopters.
Some of them were babies in arms,
uh, little kids, uh, there was grandma and grandpa.
CHAMBERS: If you had seen some big, tough Boson's mates
pick up the little kids and the babies in arms,
I... I want to tell you, you wouldn't have realized
that those tough guys down there,
had that instinct, but they were beautiful.
NARRATOR: With Saigon just hours from falling,
the evacuation to the carriers continues all day and all night.
(BLADES WHIRRING)
NARRATOR: The situation on Midway
is about to get more complicated for its skipper.
(BLADES WHIRRING)
NARRATOR: Dozens of Hueys
appear from across South Vietnam
looking for refuge.
(BLADES WHIRRING)
The deck was filling up because the Hueys
that were coming back and forth,
when they were outta gas, guess where they landed?
NARRATOR: Midway's deck is soon full...
Then a new problem arrives.
A small Cessna plane flies low over the USS Midway,
the pilot is Major Buang-Ly.
An intelligence officer with the South Vietnamese Army.
ZINGHEIM: He knew very well that,
with the new regime that was about to come into place,
someone like him and his family would be on a death list.
And so he packed everyone
in his family, immediate family
as best he could, and took off into the sky
hoping that he might come across an American task force.
NARRATOR: Major Buang-Ly finds the USS Midway.
But as the ship's flightdeck is stacked with helicopters,
he's forced to circle the carrier.
(ENGINE WHIRRING)
NARRATOR: In desperation,
he drops a note attached to his gun holster,
asking for the helicopters to be moved so he can land.
It ends, "Please rescue me.
"Major Buang, wife and five children."
Captain Chambers is now faced with a dilemma.
(ENGINE WHIRRING)
CHAMBERS: There's no room on the deck for him.
I couldn't make a ready deck at that point,
there was just no place to push all of those helicopters.
(BLADES WHIRRING)
NARRATOR: But that is not the captain's problem.
(BLADES WHIRRING)
NARRATOR: When the Admiral in charge
is told what's happening,
he orders Chambers to let the plane ditch in the sea.
For Chambers that is not an option.
With all of those bodies in there,
and nobody strapped in
and we could see the lady in back holding, uh,
what looked like an infant in her lap.
You knew that, that it was gonna be death
to all of those people if they ditched.
NARRATOR: Chambers decides to follow his instinct.
CHAMBERS: The admiral can tell me orders
of what the things he wanna do,
but I'm the Turkey in charge.
But you gotta have enough of an ego to say,
"I don't give a damn. It's my boat.
"I'm in charge and I'm gonna do it." That's it.
(ENGINE WHIRRING)
ZINGHEIM: Ignoring an admiral's order
is not routine in the fleet,
the admiral did have valid points
the Midway is packed with aircraft.
So, it wasn't like it was a wide open four-acre deck.
(SEAGULL SQUAWKS)
NARRATOR: Captain Chambers decides to save the family.
He gives his crew a remarkable order.
(ENGINE WHIRRING)
I figured I'm gonna have to answer for this,
but this is my only option. - (BLADES WHIRRING)
CHAMBERS: And so we started pushing them over the side.
(BLADES WHIRRING) - (INDISTINCT CHATTER)
NARRATOR: April 29, 1975...
The new captain of the USS Midway, Larry Chambers
watches the crew carry out his extraordinary order
to push to dozens of helicopters
into the South China Sea.
They are trying to make room for a light aircraft
carrying Vietnamese officer, Major Buang-Ly and his family.
Chambers is defying a direct order.
(ENGINE WHIRRING)
With the Admiral screaming in my ear
about telling him to ditch, we cleared the deck.
NARRATOR: Thirty helicopters
worth over 10 million dollars are jettisoned.
(BLADES WHIRRING) - (INDISTINCT CHATTER)
I knew I was in trouble
and I was gonna have to account for it when it was all over.
NARRATOR: The Midway's flightdeck is clear.
But there is another problem.
He didn't have a tailhook.
NARRATOR: Only combat planes designed to land
on aircraft carriers
have tailhooks which snag on large flightdeck cables
that bring them to a swift halt.
To stop the small plane once it lands,
Chamber's needs some help from the elements
and Midway's engines.
CHAMBERS: In order to stop this guy without a tailhook,
I wanted 40 knots of wind over the deck.
So I, uh, told the chief engineer,
I was gonna need 25 knots out of the old girl.
NARRATOR: Captain Chambers orders full steam ahead,
into the wind.
All eyes turn to Major Ly,
who has never before landed on a carrier.
(ENGINE WHIRRING)
NARRATOR: It's a perfect landing.
The family is safe. - (INDISTINCT CHATTER)
(TRIUMPHANT MUSIC PLAYING)
CHAMBERS: They brought him up to the bridge.
I took off my wings
and I pinned it, uh, on Major Ly
and I made him an honorary Naval aviator right on the spot.
NARRATOR: After the traumatic evacuation of Vietnam,
the rescue of Major Ly and his family was a moment to savor.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
NARRATOR: They later settled in the United States
and chose to keep their new lives private.
Larry Chambers was never punished
for giving the order to ditch helicopters.
In 1984, after a successful career,
he retired from the US Navy as a Rear Admiral.
Larry looks back on the evacuation as a success.
CHAMBERS: I mean, you can't help, but be proud.
We got a hell of a lot of people out.
(BLADES WHIRRING)
NARRATOR: The USS Midway is now a museum ship
moored in San Diego harbor...
...keeping alive the story of that brave flight
and Larry Chamber's courageous decision
to save lives no matter the consequences,
March 2021...
A team of explorers descends
into the depths of the Philippine Trench.
They are looking for a ship
commanded by another courageous captain,
an American World War II destroyer
that took on the might of the Japanese Navy.
The team is led by undersea explorer,
Victor Vescovo.
They travel into the deepest regions of the Pacific Ocean,
21,000 feet beneath surface.
Their yearlong search is about to pay off.
They find their prize.
To go down into that blackness for a couple of hours,
and then, all of a sudden, out of the darkness,
the USS Johnston, on the sea floor, upright,
guns trained outboard.
She looked like she was still
in the battle.
NARRATOR: The USS Johnston was a Fletcher-class destroyer.
In 1944, a state-of-the-art combat ship.
The captain of the USS Johnston is Ernest E. Evans.
He is the ideal choice.
LIN: Ernest Evans was very much a fighting captain.
And he had come up through the US Navy
as a destroyer man very early on.
LIN: He survived numerous combats
through the first few months of the war.
He was rewarded for his staunch services
with the command of one of the brand new
Fletcher-class destroyers, the USS Johnston.
Now for a destroyer man,
this was a plum job.
NARRATOR: The last time the USS Johnston saw combat
was during the largest sea battle in history...
the Battle of Leyte Gulf.
October 20, 1944...
The liberation of the Philippines
from Japanese occupation begins.
In just one day, over 130,000 men
and 200,000 tons of supplies
are landed on the island of Leyte.
Victory will bring the allies a big step closer to Japan.
Only the Japanese Imperial Navy can stop the American assault.
The Japanese plan is to send two fleets
to attack the US ships protecting the landing beaches.
A third fleet to the north is a decoy,
designed to draw out the formidable American Fleet
under the command of the impetuous,
Admiral William "Bull" Halsey.
He takes the bait.
This gives the Japanese fleet under Admiral Kurita,
a free run at the landing zone.
ZINGHEIM: So, the Japanese they're thinking
that they're about to fall upon
the American transport force in Leyte Gulf,
when all of a sudden they've come right into the midst,
seeing on the horizon,
an American carrier group.
NARRATOR: Kurita believes the ruse has failed
and that this is Admiral Halsey's third fleet.
In fact, it is a small US Navy task force
named Taffy 3.
The Taffies were designed to provide support
for amphibious operations,
as well as anti-submarine coverage,
but they were never intended to fight in a fleet engagement.
NARRATOR: Taffy 3 is made up of six small,
slow moving escort carriers
and seven screening ships,
one of which is the USS Johnston,
under the command of Ernest Evans.
By contrast, Kurita's fleet includes
the largest battleship ever built,
the 840-foot-long Yamato,
armed with nine 18-inch guns.
Its formidable firepower is clear to see on this scale model
built for a Japanese Museum.
The number one turret of Yamato
weighed more then all of Johnston itself.
NARRATOR: The splash from one of the battleship's shells
is as tall as the Eiffel Tower.
Just before 7:00 am, the Japanese open fire.
Taffy 3 had no idea
that the Japanese fleet was about to pounce on them
until the shells started coming over the horizon
and landing amidst them.
Completely outmatched, the crews of Taffy 3 try to escape.
But Commander Evans decides to stay and fight.
As soon as he was aware of these shells coming in,
he did not hesitate for one instant.
He came out on the bridge
ordered the engines to flank
and turn directly toward the enemy
laying smoke the whole way,
on his own initiative,
without orders from anybody from above.
NARRATOR: The smokescreen helps camouflage the carriers.
Johnston then steams toward Kurita's fleet.
A formidable force of eight cruisers,
11 destroyers and four battleships
including the giant Yamato.
The Japanese take aim...
(EXPLOSION) - ...at Evans' ship.
At 7.00 am on October 25, 1942,
Captain Ernest Evans races his destroyer, USS Johnston
towards a fleet of 23 Japanese combat ships.
He faces impossible odds.
Johnston's five-inch guns were powerful weapons,
but against the heavy armor of the Japanese cruisers
and battleships she was facing,
there really was no hope of her inflicting fatal damage.
It was more important to deflect and to distract
Japanese ships in their advance on the slower moving
aircraft carriers.
Here is a man who is going to sell his life
as dearly as he can
to protect the fleet that he's supposed to look after.
NARRATOR: Evans has one lethal weapon in his arsenal.
He mentions to his gunnery officer, Bob Hagen,
"We cannot go down without launching our fish
"our torpedoes."
NARRATOR: Evans' target is the closest
of the 23 Japanese combat ships,
the cruiser Kumano, but it is out of range of his torpedoes.
To get close enough,
USS Johnston will have to run the gauntlet
of the Japanese shells.
He has a plan.
HAGEN: Commander Evans was giving the order
to basically steer at the splashes,
counting on the fact that the Japanese
would not fire in the same spot twice.
NARRATOR: The tactic works.
The Johnston gets within 10,000 yards
of the Kumano without being hit.
Then Evans launches the fish.
(CANNON BLASTS)
He fires a spread of 10 torpedoes at Kumano
and blows the bow off that cruiser,
stopping her in the water.
And in one stroke Johnston alone
stalls the most immediate threat to Taffy 3.
NARRATOR: Evans turns the Johnston around
to re-join his comrades.
At that moment his luck runs out...
STEPHENSON: 18-inch shells from the battleship Yamato,
the largest naval gun in the world,
those three shells hit back aft,
amidship portside,
went into the port engine room, and exploded.
(EXPLOSION)
NARRATOR: Then, a salvo of Yamato's smaller guns
hits the bridge
causing more carnage. - (EXPLOSION)
This was the area where a six-inch shell
killed everyone that was standing around Evans
and injured Evans himself.
HAGEN: Commander Evans is there bleeding,
'cause he lost a couple of fingers
and his shirt was blown off
and he's waving off the doctor and telling him
"Don't bother me,
"go check on the people who are actually hurt."
STEPHENSON: Then Evans hears on the tactical radio
that Taffy 3 was finally making a decision
and sending the destroyers in on a torpedo run.
NARRATOR: But the Johnston is out of torpedoes,
and badly damaged,
so Evans orders his five-inch gunners
to take on the enemy.
His ship is not dead yet.
But the fearsome Japanese fleet of battleships,
cruisers and destroyers is closing in.
It was only a matter of time
before the Japanese heavies were able to get close enough
to practically wipe out all the escort carriers
with their speed and gunnery advantage.
NARRATOR: Johnston and the rest of Taffy 3 are doomed.
Then a miracle. Admiral Kurita calls off the chase.
They turned and basically retreated
and commander Evans radioed my dad saying, saying,
"I've seen everything now."
NARRATOR: Some believe that Admiral Kurita
decides to abandon his plan
to stop the Leyte invasion
because of the bravery of Evans and the crews of Taffy 3.
But the USS Johnston pays a heavy price.
The Japanese have stopped chasing the escort carriers
but take one last prize as they retreat.
Two shells from the Japanese battleship Kongo
strike the wounded destroyer.
So, now Johnston is dead in the water,
no ability to, uh, control her guns.
STEPHENSON: And the Japanese are just
pumping shells into her at will.
(EXPLOSION)
NARRATOR: At 9:45 am Evans orders the crew to abandon ship.
Twenty-five minutes later, the Johnston capsizes and sinks.
It was the last time anyone saw Ernest Evans alive.
HAGEN: My dad always kind of assumed
that commander Evans went down with the ship.
My dad talked about how he was a Navy man through and through,
and he wouldn't have expected anything else
from commander Evans than to go down with the ship.
NARRATOR: A hundred and eighty-six men were killed,
141 survived.
For his incredible courage,
Commander Ernest Evans was posthumously awarded
the Medal of Honor.
The discovery of the USS Johnston
is a reminder that the success at Leyte Gulf
was due in no small part to the heroism
of men like Ernest Evans.
Yamato was the world's largest battleship.
And she had the biggest guns ever afloat,
but Evans aboard Johnston had a more powerful weapon.
And that was the ability of robbing the Japanese
of the time they needed
to successfully conclude their operation.
NARRATOR: Extraordinary courage
is not only shown in the heat of Battle,
one Captain needed it in a fight for freedom.
May 12th, 1862,
the Civil War is raging.
A steamer slips out of Charleston Harbor
in the early morning.
At the helm is no ordinary skipper.
He is 23-year-old enslaved sailor, Robert Smalls.
He is stealing a Confederate ship
in a desperate attempt to give his crew
and their families a chance for freedom.
MOORE: It really was a life-or-death proposition.
Robert bet everything
that he had on everything he dreamed of that night.
If they had gotten caught,
they clearly would've been executed
in probably in a particularly gruesome and public way.
ELLIOTT: Robert smalls was born, in Beaufort, South Carolina.
His, mother was an enslaved woman
and it just understood that his father was his enslaver.
Smalls had an affinity for the, the waterways.
NARRATOR: Robert worked as a pilot,
guiding vessels through the difficult and dangerous
waters of Charleston Harbor,
and the coast of South Carolina.
In the Spring of 1861,
the first shots of the Civil War ring out in Charleston.
Robert finds himself
on a Confederate side wheel paddle steamer...
The CSS Planter.
Although armed, combat is not the Planter's main role...
Her real value lay in her shallow draft
which meant that she was perfect for coastal operations.
LIN: She could carry supplies,
she could carry troops for amphibious landings.
NARRATOR: Robert is the pilot of the Planter,
under the command of white confederate officers.
As the days pass an idea takes shape... Escape.
Robert and his wife Hannah have two small children.
As she too is enslaved,
the family could be ripped apart at any time if Hannah was sold.
So, Robert decides they all had to head north
to find freedom.
ZINGHEIM: The whole reason why he did this was for his family,
to try to protect them, to keep them together.
NARRATOR: He shares his plans of escape
with rest of the black crew.
They would steal the Planter,
bring their families on board
and sail out of Charleston Harbor
towards a Union naval blockade off the coast.
Michael Boulware Moore is retracing
his ancestor's risky journey to freedom.
MOORE: You know this was a really precarious venture.
You know, there were so many things
that could have gone wrong,
each of which in themselves
could have proved fatal.
NARRATOR: In the early hours of May 12, 1862,
Robert gets a chance to escape.
The Confederate crew left,
went into the city to have fun to carouse,
whatever, Robert and the crew, they saw the opportunity.
NARRATOR: Luckily, the Planter's captain,
Charles Relyea,
leaves his coat and hat on the ship.
Robert puts them on hoping to fool
any Confederate lookouts in the harbor.
At 3:00 am the Planter sets off
from the harbor's Southern Wharf
it's hold full of Confederate guns and ammunition.
He basically made the decision
that he was either going to be free that next morning,
or he was going to be dead.
NARRATOR: His first challenge is to pick up Hannah
and their children,
plus the crew's families
from the harbor's North Atlantic wharf.
MOORE: So, they had to stop here,
even though it added additional risk.
I mean, another opportunity
for them potentially to have gotten caught.
NARRATOR: With the crew's families now aboard,
Smalls can finally steer the Planter towards freedom.
But the route is treacherous.
They must cross a vast, hostile harbor,
peppered with gunboats and heavily armed forts.
Each fort is a danger.
There were a number of signals
that each Fort had that boats who were passing by
had to successfully execute to be allowed to pass.
MOORE: The boats had whistles
in almost like a Morse code, dot, dash, dash, you know,
kind of a configuration would have to execute these whistles
to successfully be allowed to pass by.
NARRATOR: After months of watching the officers,
Robert knows each of the signals.
And to help the deception,
he imitates the way Captain Relyea behaves on deck.
The Planter successfully passes
four forts without raising the alarm.
Then, as daylight breaks
the Planter approaches Fort Sumter
where the Civil War had broken out the year before.
MOORE: This was the largest, most dangerous obstacle
in the Harbor
and it was the last thing that they had to overcome
before reaching the union blockade and ostensibly freedom.
It was a gateway, monitoring anything that came in
or came out of Charleston Harbor.
NARRATOR: Armed with dozens of cannons,
including massive 42-pounders,
the Fort could easily blow the Planter out of the water...
I can only imagine just the being filled with fear
and with anxiety and with hope,
because in essence, they could likely see freedom
just at the horizon.
NARRATOR: But Robert's ruse works.
The Confederate sentries let the Planter pass.
Smalls carefully points the Planter
towards the Union blockade
and the clipper USS Onward.
Suddenly a new threat appears.
One that Smalls has not accounted for.
MOORE: At just before Dawn here is this,
you know, 150 or so foot side wheel steamer
with an enormous Confederate flag
sailing toward the Union unannounced.
NARRATOR: The Union crew
see what they think is a Confederate ship
trying to break through their blockade.
They ready their guns.
Realizing the danger,
Robert and Hannah quickly pull down the Confederate flag
and replace it with a white bedsheet
Hannah had brought. A sign of surrender.
To their relief, the Union guns stay silent.
Robert and Hannah know they are safe.
The notion of freedom for enslaved people
really was somewhat abstract.
It... It... It was this dream,
but for Robert and his family and the crew and their families
as they approached the USS Onward,
and as they boarded, they really were free.
NARRATOR: Robert Smalls hands over to the Union Captain
the valuable guns and ammunition from the Planter's hold.
He also carried very important Intel
and the ship itself that would help the union army
secure their success in the battle of the civil war.
NARRATOR: Robert Smalls becomes a Union hero.
ELLIOTT: Robert smalls
was one of those people that ran toward the fire
to get people out of harm's way.
And in this case, it was to pull people out of slavery
and bring them towards freedom.
MOORE: Robert was taken north,
he was celebrated in parades
up and down the east coast
from Washington up to Boston,
it was a big, you know, moral victory.
NARRATOR: He is even given an audience
with President Abraham Lincoln.
MOORE: And at that meeting, Robert persuaded,
President Lincoln to admit formally enslaved men
into the United States union war effort.
NARRATOR: Robert himself is eager
to get back on the water and fight,
this time for the United States Navy.
His war isn't over.
In June 1863, he is sent to South Carolina
as the pilot of the ship he sailed to freedom
the USS Planter.
It's mission is to support
a Union attack near Folly Island.
(EXPLOSION)
The Planter comes under fire from a Confederate battery
at Secessionville
and there's cannonballs landing very close nearby.
MOORE: And the captain lost his nerve and actually went
and hid under the deck and Robert very quickly,
very deftly seized control of the Planter,
and skillfully sailed it
even while receiving cannon fire,
sailed it to freedom and it was a result of that endeavor
that he was named, the captain of the Planter.
He became the first African American captain
in the Navy,
but then also the first African American
to command a United States Naval vessel.
It's the recognition of him as a hero,
not as a black hero, but as a hero, an American hero.
NARRATOR: It's not just the captains of combat ships
who steered their vessels into harm's way,
a vast army of merchant seamen
also faced the full horror of war.
(EXPLOSION)
The Mediterranean Sea, Summer 1942...
The Allies, and the Axis powers
Germany and Italy,
battle to supply their armies
fighting for control of North Africa.
German Field Marshal Rommel, known as the Desert Fox,
threatens to inflict
a humiliating defeat on the Allies.
The ships of both sides
transporting vital troops, machinery and ammunition
are prime targets.
Both sides are trying to supply forces in this theatre,
so the British supply lines are running east west
from Gibraltar to Egypt,
and the axis supply lines are running north-south,
so they cross,
and where they cross is very close to Malta.
NARRATOR: The British-controlled island of Malta
is a key part of the Allied strategy
in the Mediterranean.
Malta's a vital base,
both as an air base, but also as a base for British submarines
to actually range out into the Mediterranean
and begin to try and intercept those convoys.
NARRATOR: The Axis powers,
hit Malta with relentless air attacks,
hoping to force the island to surrender.
In the spring of 1942,
the Luftwaffe bombs Malta
for 154 consecutive days.
Three times longer than the London Blitz.
(CONTROLLER BEEPS) - (EXPLOSION)
BENNETT: By the summer of 1942,
Malta's running short of almost everything.
The situation for the civilians is quite desperate.
The situation of the Malta Garrison
is similarly very, very difficult.
(EXPLOSION)
(ROCK MUSIC PLAYING)
NARRATOR: In a last-ditch attempt to save the island,
the Allies launch a rescue mission
codenamed Operation Pedestal,
a convoy consisting of 14 merchant ships
guarded by nearly 40 Royal Navy warships.
The most important merchant ship in the convoy
is carrying vital aircraft fuel. The tanker, SS Ohio.
So, the Ohio is the only bulk delivery of fuel
that the island is going to get,
and without fuel,
and we're talking about aviation fuel,
the aircraft on Malta can't fly.
So, that means there's no fighter defense
and there's no torpedo bombers
to attack Axis supply shipping.
NARRATOR: SS Ohio needs an experienced captain
to steer it safely to Malta.
The British choose a merchant navy veteran
who'd been at sea since he was a teenager.
Forty-year-old Dudley Mason.
This is a man who's shown great resourcefulness.
He's very experienced,
and he's a very reliable pair of hands.
NARRATOR: The Ohio
and the other Operation Pedestal merchant vessels
are turned into combat ships,
reinforced with machine guns,
a 40mm Bofors,
and six 20mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns.
In early August 1942,
the convoy gathers off the coast of Scotland
and makes its way to the Mediterranean.
Captain Mason warns his crew
their mission will be "no picnic"
but reassures them they had a massive escort as protection.
In the early hours of August 10th, 1942,
the convoy slips into the Mediterranean.
But the Axis powers know they are coming.
German intelligence has been tipped off
that a large convoy is heading south.
The attacks are opened on the 11th,
when a German submarine, U-73 sights the convoy.
REDFORD: It fires three torpedoes
and they hit HMS Eagle.
HMS Eagle rolls over and sinks inside eight minutes.
NARRATOR: A hundred and sixty men
on the aircraft carrier perish.
Sixteen vital fighter planes are lost.
Dudley Mason and the Ohio sail on.
The loss of the Eagle is just the opening salvo.
On August 12th, it is the Luftwaffe's turn
to hit the convoy.
REDFORD: The first mass air attack occurs,
on the 12th at around midday,
by German JU 88s and JU 87 dive bombers.
One merchant ship is hit and damaged
and is forced to drop out of the convoy.
NARRATOR: The attacks keep coming.
Ahead of the convoy,
six Italian submarines are waiting.
At 7.55 pm one sub, named Axum
fires a deadly salvo of torpedoes
which hits three ships, including the Ohio.
The Explosion rips a hole in her port side,
but Captain Mason and his crew manage to keep the Ohio afloat
and heading to Malta,
which is still 150 miles away.
By August 13th, seven merchant ships
and two combat ships
have been sunk and many more badly damaged.
Then, the Luftwaffe strikes again.
26 bombers launch low level attacks on Ohio.
BENNETT: This ship is getting battered.
This ship is getting absolutely hammered.
Mason's a guy who's got to manoeuvre his ship (CHUCKLES)
while it's on the continuous aerial attack
during some stages of the Ohio's journey.
NARRATOR: Then a bomb from a Stuka
knocks out the tanker's engines.
The bomb that hits the Ohio,
hits in pretty much the same area
that had already been damaged
by the earlier torpedo hit.
BENNETT: Her back has been broken.
This is a ship which is being held together
almost against the laws of physics.
NARRATOR: August 14th...
Dudley Mason calculates that Ohio will hold together
for 12 hours before she sinks.
Just enough time to get to Malta.
But there's a huge problem...
Ohio has no power.
To keep her moving,
the convoy crew comes up with an ingenious solution.
They strap the stricken tanker between two destroyers
HMS Penn and HMS Brennan.
This is a really courageous thing to do
because although destroyers are fast ships,
when you're moving a huge, great dead weight of a tanker
you are not going to go very fast
and you are a plum target for enemy air attacks.
NARRATOR: The unusual flotilla moves slowly forward.
A third destroyer, HMS Ledbury
drops depth charges every 20 minutes to deter enemy subs.
(EXPLOSION)
NARRATOR: Finally, on the morning of August 15th,
Ohio limps into Malta's capital Valletta.
LIN: Like a miracle,
the tanker comes through against all the odds,
the Ohio steams into harbor
and there's wild cheering and wild celebration.
NARRATOR: Within minutes of arriving,
Dudley Mason instructs the crew to start unloading
Ohio's precious cargo of fuel.
A few hours later, mission accomplished.
The battered tanker finally breaks in two
and sinks to the bottom of the harbor.
Of the 14 Operation Pedestal merchant ships
that began the convoy,
only five made it to port.
Three escort ships were sunk,
34 aircraft were downed, and 500 men lost their lives.
HEASLIP: Those five ships
that did make it through we're crucial to the survival.
They brought tens of thousands of tons of food,
and supplies, and ammunition
for the population,
but also, crucially, the arrival of SS Ohio
brought with it the fuel that was needed for the RAF
to continue launching raids
on the convoys heading across to Rommel.
And in that way, they cut Rommel's supply lines
just in time for the turnaround
on the land campaign in North Africa.
NARRATOR: Dudley Mason's unwavering determination
to bring Ohio into port earns him the George Cross,
the highest civilian award for courage.
He accepts it on behalf of his crew.
The merchant marine in the Second World War,
they are the true unsung heroes of the war at sea.
NARRATOR: War at sea produces many brave captains.
But there are times when a courageous few
have gone above and beyond... - (EXPLOSION)
...the call of duty to protect the life and liberty of others.
The daring deeds of these extraordinary captains
deserve to be celebrated and remembered.