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  • The Weapons of War: Aircraft Carriers at War (2000)
  • Video | 56 min | Documentary, History, War
The Weapons of War: Aircraft Carriers at War (2000)
Video | 56 min | Documentary, History, War
In December 1941, a radically different and huge armada is assembled under the command of Admiral Chiuichi Nagumo of Japan. At its core rides a group of six large, ultra modern aircraft carriers which, between them, can fly off more than ...See moreIn December 1941, a radically different and huge armada is assembled under the command of Admiral Chiuichi Nagumo of Japan. At its core rides a group of six large, ultra modern aircraft carriers which, between them, can fly off more than 360 war planes. The aircraft carriers gain fame and notoriety, completely transforming the balance of power in the Pacific. Thus rewriting the rules of naval warfare and ensuring that in the long, bitter struggle fought across thousands of miles of ocean, the carriers will reign pre-eminent. In the Spring of 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his advisors sanction an unusual and dangerous undertaking. On April 18th, under the fearless Command of Kernel James Doolittle, sixteen B-25 Bombers perform the hazardous feat of taking off a carrier deck. After journeying for more than six hundred miles, Doolittle's bombers unload their bombs over Tokyo, in a main effort to reach China. Another fourteen fleet carriers and over seventeen light escort carriers came down American slipways. Arriving in the Pacific, they flew out from their decks, an invincible new generation of faster, better aircraft. Radar technology became an invaluable tool not only in the efficiency of locating the enemy but also for the warning of his approach. The radar was instrumental in guiding aircraft safely home to the mother ship. In November 1943, a surprise carrier strike devastates a large Japanese expeditionary fleet assembled in Rabaul. In late 1944, the Japanese fleet retaliates with their fearsome new weapon: the Kamikaze, consequently it is the men on the carriers that will experience its horror as the Kamikaze pilots plunge ahead on their suicide mission. Air patrol is increased while vigilance sharpens as the Japanese Kamikaze airfields are strafed. In an uncertain world, it is the aircraft carrier, not the battleship that holds 'pride of place'. The aircraft carrier with its ease and rapidity of development and its capacity to fulfill many roles remains one of the most flexible and potent tools of military intervention ever developed. Written by Dixie Bell See less
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Edit Released
Updated Dec 31, 2000
Release date
2000 (Australia)

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3 cast members
Name Known for
James Doolittle
Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage)   See fewer
Air Power (1956)
Chiuichi Nagumo
Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage)   See fewer
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage)   See fewer
The President's Mystery (1936)
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