I suppose I'd better repeat some of the observations I've made with regard to the rest of the series. In the first two seasons, every episode was well above the expected norm. After that, for a few more seasons, the franchise seems to have changed hands and the quality of each episode varied greatly. Some were pretty poor.
This one, although it deals with a familiar struggle -- the German U-boats versus Allied shipping and escorts in the Atlantic -- is very good indeed, probably the best of the second series.
Anyone interested in watching this is likely to know something of the general outlines of the Battle of the Atlantic, and this episode covers all of that material -- Bletchley Park, sonar, "the happy time." But it does far more than travel over the same ground. Somebody did his homework and deserves a high grade. The personalities of the commanders are accurately sketched, even when they don't reflect happily on the Allies. Nobody could get close to the limping distant British officer in charge of the war against the U-boats. And Admiral King, back in Washington, disliked the British. Other, more intimate details, are inserted in the narrative. Admiral Doenitz lost his son on a submarine, and the commander of the ship that destroyed it was married when he returned from patrol. The most effective American anti-submarine vessels at the beginning of the war were U. S. Coast Guard cutters.
Many reviews of the Battle of the Atlantic tell us that the corvette was developed as a designated anti-submarine escort but few tell us that the design was based on a whaling ship or that, as corvettes evolved into bigger, more heavily armed vessels, they were called frigates. (I, at least, knew nothing of that evolution.) There is the occasional howler too, to provide comic relief. An extended discussion of Admiral King's career and personality is accompanied by a still photo of Admiral William Halsey's homely face.
It was a brutal war with no monuments. Of every eight U-boats deployed during the war, seven were sunk or captured. The Allies of course won, partly through advances in technology aided by considerable luck, but it was an appalling conflict for both sides.
This one, although it deals with a familiar struggle -- the German U-boats versus Allied shipping and escorts in the Atlantic -- is very good indeed, probably the best of the second series.
Anyone interested in watching this is likely to know something of the general outlines of the Battle of the Atlantic, and this episode covers all of that material -- Bletchley Park, sonar, "the happy time." But it does far more than travel over the same ground. Somebody did his homework and deserves a high grade. The personalities of the commanders are accurately sketched, even when they don't reflect happily on the Allies. Nobody could get close to the limping distant British officer in charge of the war against the U-boats. And Admiral King, back in Washington, disliked the British. Other, more intimate details, are inserted in the narrative. Admiral Doenitz lost his son on a submarine, and the commander of the ship that destroyed it was married when he returned from patrol. The most effective American anti-submarine vessels at the beginning of the war were U. S. Coast Guard cutters.
Many reviews of the Battle of the Atlantic tell us that the corvette was developed as a designated anti-submarine escort but few tell us that the design was based on a whaling ship or that, as corvettes evolved into bigger, more heavily armed vessels, they were called frigates. (I, at least, knew nothing of that evolution.) There is the occasional howler too, to provide comic relief. An extended discussion of Admiral King's career and personality is accompanied by a still photo of Admiral William Halsey's homely face.
It was a brutal war with no monuments. Of every eight U-boats deployed during the war, seven were sunk or captured. The Allies of course won, partly through advances in technology aided by considerable luck, but it was an appalling conflict for both sides.