Combat Ships

A look at how technological advances over the centuries have led to bigger and faster combat ships and transformed maritime warfare.

The Navy captures an armed group of Somali pirates, a Coast Guard crew raids a drug-smuggling submarine, and Norwegian civilians in fishing boats outwit the Germans during World War II.

Anti-war sentiment and racial unrest during the Vietnam War spark rebellions at sea, mutineers overthrow Captain Bligh on the HMS Bounty, and a U.S. slave ship revolt ends in triumph.

American troops' determination to secure a vital airfield and preserve communications lines with Australia leads to a chaotic and deadly night battle in the Pacific theater of World War II.

A black Merchant Marine in World War II forces the Navy to desegregate his ship, a teenage slave pressed into Royal Navy service finds himself in the thick of the Seven Years' War, and more.

Experts discuss nautical explosions, including an attack on the USS Westchester County during the Vietnam War, a collision in Canada during WWI and a nuclear test in the Pacific Ocean.

Larry Chambers makes a risky decision during the Vietnam War. Ernest Evans faces a formidable Japanese fleet during WWII, and enslaved steamship pilot, Robert Smalls, stages a daring escape.