In my quest to understand war, I stumbled upon this program about a naval graveyard off the coast of North Carolina.
Armed with illustrative maps and historical photographs, host Tane Casserley of the National Marine Sanctuary tells the story of naval warfare leaving relics on the sea floor from the Civil War through WWII.
He begins by telling the tale of the ironclad warship USS Monitor, whose innovative revolving-turret design made it the "great-grandfather of every naval gun vessel on the water today."
When I think about the War Between the States, I envision land battles. However, the Hampton Roads region of Chesapeake Bay saw the worst Navy loss of life until Pearl Harbor, when, on March 8, 1862, the CSS Virginia sank four Yankee warships and disabled some other vessels, killing 241 US sailors and injuring 100 others. Monitor steamed down from New York to the rescue, to engage in hours of battle deemed to be a draw.
Sadly, the Monitor sank some nine months later, in a storm off of Cape Hatteras, with the loss of 16 officers and crew.
The Monitor's sunken hulk was discovered in 1974, and the next year it became centerpiece for the nation's first naval marine sanctuary. A little internet research revealed a film about the ship, "Hearts in Bondage" of 1936, which I have begun watching and can recommend.
Casserley goes on to discuss the shocking incursion of German U-boats off the US East Coast during World War II, aimed at attacking merchant ships from America that were supplying the European war effort. Some 1,600 people were killed in the Battle of the Atlantic; seemingly all branches of the US military fought in the onslaught, with U-85 the first to be sunk, on April 14, 1942. By 1943, the U-boat threat had largely been extinguished, making D-Day possible in 1944.
With its reminder to "never forget the sacrifices made," this program was worth seeing.
Armed with illustrative maps and historical photographs, host Tane Casserley of the National Marine Sanctuary tells the story of naval warfare leaving relics on the sea floor from the Civil War through WWII.
He begins by telling the tale of the ironclad warship USS Monitor, whose innovative revolving-turret design made it the "great-grandfather of every naval gun vessel on the water today."
When I think about the War Between the States, I envision land battles. However, the Hampton Roads region of Chesapeake Bay saw the worst Navy loss of life until Pearl Harbor, when, on March 8, 1862, the CSS Virginia sank four Yankee warships and disabled some other vessels, killing 241 US sailors and injuring 100 others. Monitor steamed down from New York to the rescue, to engage in hours of battle deemed to be a draw.
Sadly, the Monitor sank some nine months later, in a storm off of Cape Hatteras, with the loss of 16 officers and crew.
The Monitor's sunken hulk was discovered in 1974, and the next year it became centerpiece for the nation's first naval marine sanctuary. A little internet research revealed a film about the ship, "Hearts in Bondage" of 1936, which I have begun watching and can recommend.
Casserley goes on to discuss the shocking incursion of German U-boats off the US East Coast during World War II, aimed at attacking merchant ships from America that were supplying the European war effort. Some 1,600 people were killed in the Battle of the Atlantic; seemingly all branches of the US military fought in the onslaught, with U-85 the first to be sunk, on April 14, 1942. By 1943, the U-boat threat had largely been extinguished, making D-Day possible in 1944.
With its reminder to "never forget the sacrifices made," this program was worth seeing.
