Reaching for the Skies S01E11 - Victory Over the Sea

Early in the Second World War, aircraft began to wrest the traditional control of the sea from the battleship.

Flimsy Swordfish biplanes, launched from Royal Navy aircraft carriers, flew daring torpedo raids which crippled the Italian fleet at Taranto and the giant German battleship, Bismarck. In the Pacific, American and Japanese carrier-borne aircraft attacked each other's fleets. A new warfare had developed. British innovations like the angle-deck allowed faster, heavier jet aircraft to land at sea, leading to the giant American super-carriers of today.