Submarine Warfare in WW1

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 21 March 2017

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

During World War One, submarines began to be used widely for the first time. German submarines called U-boats tried to cut off Britain’s sea routes to starve it into submission. Alex Last presents archive recordings of the German and British submariners who risked their lives fighting in the new undersea weapon 100 years ago.

Photo: Two German submarines, the U35 and U42, surface off the Mediterranean coast. (Photo by General Photographic Agency/Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.
0:04.7	My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds.
0:08.5	As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices.
0:18.0	What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,
0:24.6	poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples.
0:29.7	If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC
0:35.4	Sounds.
0:36.4	Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.
0:40.9	My name's Linda Davies and I commissioned
0:43.0	podcast for BBC Sounds.
0:45.0	As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality,
0:49.0	featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices.
0:54.4	What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,
1:00.9	poltergeist, cricket and conspiracy theories, and that's just a few examples.
1:06.4	If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC
1:11.6	Sounds. Hello and welcome to the Witness Podcast from the BBC World Service with me Alex Last,
1:18.0	with moments of history told by the people who were there.
1:22.0	And in this episode, using recordings from our archive, we go back
1:26.8	over 100 years to World War I when for the first time, submarines wreaked havoc on the high seas. It was 1917. I was in the attack, a destroyer, and we were 12 miles off Alexandria,
1:49.8	acting as an escort to the Aragon carrying 2,000 troops and the Aragon was torpedoed.
1:57.0	Commander Reginald Hall of the Royal Navy speaking to the BBC in 1964.
2:02.8	So he went alongside the arrogant to take off as many people as we could.
	...

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