They are swimming fortresses, small cities on the sea with thousands of inhabitants and a complete air fleet on board: aircraft carriers, the biggest warships of the world. In armed conflicts, the super powers’ carriers can gain strategic importance as the most lethal weapon of their foreign policy.
So far, TV documentaries have mainly focused on the well-known US carriers such as the new USS John Stennis with her 6,000 staff and 85 planes on board. In our 54-minute documentary, however, we also visit the French "Foch" and her new sister ship, the nearly completed "Charles de Gaulle", a nuclear-powered high-tech carrier. By the example of the French marine we are going to examine the role these expensive mega ships play in world-wide peace keeping.
Furthermore, we are taking a look into the fascinating past of the carriers: As early as 1910, the American flight pioneer Eugene Ely transformed the USS "Birmingham" to the first carrier - against the Wright brothers´ advice. In spite of these brave, early attempts, aircraft carriers did not earn vital strategic importance until World War II, when they played the decisive part in the victorious American strategy for the Pacific – a dramatic time that we recapture with spectacular colour material. We also document the German endeavour to build a rival to the US swimming fortresses: The "Graf Zeppelin", nearly completed in 1938, was never used at war: Hitler preferred submarines.
With strong protagonists working aboard today’s carriers as well as eye witnesses who took part in the exciting carrier missions of World War II, our documentary is a thrilling entry into a techno-world of gigantic dimensions.
Length: 54 minutes.
© VIDICOM Media Productions
Dr. Peter Bardehle - Hofweg 49 - 22085 Hamburg - Germany
Phone: +49 40 222 133 / Fax: +49 40 2271 5757
E-Mail Vidicom