9.00pm BBC 2
His previous war documentaries have been really good

Cool,

Despite his oafish top gear presenter style, his documentary presenter style is top notch.

Agreed

Tick

Cheers, timely reminder.

Is Sigourney Weaver in it?

The one he did on Arnhem was very good, the family connection added to it as well.

I just assumed it was a repeat?

His one about St Nazaire was good too.

St Nazaire Raid

SKY+ set.

[quoteHis one about St Nazaire was good too.[/quote]
absolutely. The sub story of Sgt Durrant is a great one.

Hopefully it’s the absolutely ridiculously bonkers raid on st nazaire. I still can’t believe it’s a true story.
EDIT: LOL

Bumpage

What a fantastic programme.
Very moving.

Fantastic stuff.

That was excellent 🙂

The old commander still in tears over leaving the convoy, im in tears wTching

dusty in here… respect to all

That was well worth watching thanks for the reminder

JEngledow – Member

That was well worth watching thanks for the reminder

I’ll get it on catch up tomorrow, Ta

Yep enjoyed it here too. Despite reading lots about the wars, I am still learning.

What a desperate tale well retold.

On a side note, what is going on with Clarkson’s knees?

Was good, will rewatch when kids are not running rough screaming as only heard every other word.

Kinda puts a lot of our modern “problems” into sharp focus doesn’t it.

Incredible to think that those normal men and women stood up to the mark, and just got on with it. A time when perhaps being brave was almost the norm, i can’t quite imagine the same reaction today somehow.

As the years tick by, not only do we forget past events, but as the end credits showed, we are very close to loosing the finaly few first hand connections to those events. Important then to make documentaries like these to capture those events for history as told by the actual people who experienced them.

Bloody brilliant that, totally enjoyed watching and learning and feeling for those sailors… However I do feel a bit sorrowful 😐

Fantastic. Clarkson is a different person when he does his war documentries, I’m well over Top Gear Clarkson but War Story Teller Clarkson has me rivetted. I swear, my heart actually sank when they ordered the cruiser force away, if you saw it in a film you’d say it was made up. Must look up the Nazaire raid one…

Reminded me of reading HMS Ulysses more than 30 years ago. Alistair MacLean served on 2 arctic convoys and although fiction it gives some insight into just how harsh the conditions were even before you were bombed and torpedoed.

A humbling story when hardship these days in no 3G coverage. Very brave men. Clarkson adds a good bit of drama and respect to his war stuff. Well done.

24 ships lost and 153 men – I expected more men?

Definitely makes you appreciate what you have. It must have felt so desperate out there. Really humbling stuff.

Merchant crews were smaller – no guns

That was really rather good. A really moving tale, well told, and good use of being ‘in situ’ to add some flavour to what it must really have been like out there, even though I don’t think anything could really tell the real story of what it must have been out in that water.

Aside from the story itself, that ship doing a ‘handbrake’ turn was pretty bloody impressive as well!

i expected more men

My Dad was in the MN (RFA actually) in the 50’s and what you have to remember is they were cargo ships, not warships. Beyond a crew to make it actually go – engineers, stokers, officers to command and navigate and a small crew to keep them fed and watered, there were no human cargoes. I guess the only blessing of PQ17 and the like was that they weren’t carrying troops, if you compare for example to the secondment of the Canberra and the QEII in the Falklands.

My and Brant’s grandfather was on PQ16. They were short of food because PQ17 was supposed to bring it . . .

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/75/a8249475.shtml

My Uncle George did a few North Atlantic convoy escorts in the RN. Never did get to talk to him about it, wish I had now. 😥

My grandfather was stationed at Scapa Flow for a lot of WWII on board HMS Manchester. He was taken off Manchester when it got sent to the Med – it ended up torpedoed. My grandfather stayed in Scapa on a variety of smaller ships.

Fascinating programme – when Clarkson puts away his Top Gear persona and does history, he is brilliant.

Our grandad was ace.

The seven Hurricane aircraft wrecked by the bomb in No. 1 hold had been in large wooden cases secured by straps made of 2″ x ¼” steel strip. Whilst hanging about in Murmansk, out of these strips I made brackets to secure the fractured top halves of the bearings in their former position and thus ensure the shaft lubrication for the return run. They worked well for the run across to Archangel.

That’s the sort of thing my dad did on his RFA tankers, fashioning repair parts out of odds and sods to be able to limp it to port and get them repaired properly. Proper engineering, not pictures on computers.

24 ships lost and 153 men – I expected more men?

MN ships will have smaller crews, although much bigger then compared to now. Probably about 25.

I would guess that so many survived because they were relatively close to land and although hardly topical it was July, so not the ice covered seas as in the TV show.

That’s the sort of thing my dad did on his RFA tankers, fashioning repair parts out of odds and sods to be able to limp it to port and get them repaired properly. Proper engineering, not pictures on computers

Careful? Some bellend will probably be along shortly claiming that your dad isn’t a “proper” engineer because he didn’t do a few years at a cushty university…..

It wasn’t just the weather, the cold and the possibility of being killed by enemy action; life was uncomfortable and miserable at the best of times. I have my Grandad’s diary from his time between 1917 and 1919 in HMS Southampton, a light cruiser on convoy protection duty in the north Atlantic. He didn’t see much action but makes frequent mention of coaling ship (“filthy, backbreaking work”) and even kept a record of the tonnage of coal consumed and nautical miles steamed. He also makes references to “my darling Bunty”, who he missed badly and later married.

Sadly he was demobbed just before the scuttling of the German fleet in Scapa Flow so he missed that event. He did witness the explosion of HMS Vanguard in July 1917 in Scapa Flow.