Presented by the U.S. Navy and produced by The March Of Time, War On The Seas (MN1532) is a short Navy film from 1943 that tells viewers the story of the Navy from its recovery of Pearl Harbor up through the invasion of North Africa at the end of 1942. The film opens with Japanese footage of its pilots climbing into planes and taking off from an air craft carrier on 7 December 1941. Japanese bombers fly through the sky toward Pearl Harbor. Japanese forces drop bombs on U.S. Navy targets at Pearl Harbor. Footage shows Japanese strikes on U.S. ships and grounded planes; the U.S. ships are on fire and sinking in the harbor. The film then shows viewers the aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor and the damage to the Navy’s Pacific Fleet, including destroyed planes and hangers reduced to rubble. Navy salvage divers begin work in Pearl Harbor (03:14). In Japan, Japanese Prime Minister Hideki Tojo and his war cabinet pose for a photo (04:03). Adolf Hitler and his generals meet and review plans for war at a mountain location (05:19). The film shows some of the ships and submarines that make up Germany’s naval force (06:42). The U.S. Navy sets up defensive positions and sea mines along the Atlantic coast (07:20). Men load up Naval patrol bombers (07:55); a bomber—what appears to be a PBY5 Catalina—rolls into the water from a ship and then takes off. The PBY5 patrols the skies looking for German Uboats. German officers in a Uboat prepare to dive the ship (09:15); the Navy’s PBY5 bombs a Uboat. The film shows footage of cargo ship convoys on the Atlantic. A German Uboat surfaces (10:44) and prepares to fire a torpedo at a cargo ship in the dark of night. The cargo ship is hit and is engulfed in flames. U.S. Navy forces fire on a German Uboat. Nazi Luftwaffe longrange bombers take off from German bases along the coast of Norway (13:00). German dive bombers attack Allied war ships (13:32), which fire antiaircraft guns at the Nazi planes. British naval forces maneuver in the Mediterranean Sea (14:47). British ships fire on Nazi aircraft. A German plane is hit and crashes into the sea (15:48). Admiral Chester Nimitz meets with officers to plan naval operations in the Pacific (16:30). A U.S. carrier striker force sails to engage Japanese forces near the Marshall Islands (17:32). American planes take off from the carriers while other ships fire heavy guns on Japanese targets. U.S. ships unload bombers (19:00) at a harbor in a New Zealand or Australian port. Next, the film shows viewers footage from the Battle of Midway in June 1942. Members of the Navy run out onto a carrier’s runway (20:22); Navy pilots meet in ready rooms to review the mission. Pilots man their Douglas SBD3 Dauntless dive bombers on the deck of the carrier. They fire up their engines and taxi into takeoff position. The planes take off and fly in formation on their way to the Japanese fleet. Navy ships fire antiaircraft guns at approaching Japanese planes (22:50), most likely Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighters and Aichi D3A dive bombers. A U.S. carrier is hit. Japanese planes take fire from U.S. guns and some crash into the ocean. A Navy squadron (25:12) begins bombing Japanese carriers. A Navy submarine is supplied before setting out in the Pacific (26:24). A Navy crew prepares to dive their submarine (27:48). The submarine fires a torpedo and hits a Japanese ship. A U.S. convoy of transport ships and warcraft sails from San Diego to the Solomon Islands carrying troops of the 1st Marine Division (28:45). Marines swarm the beaches of Guadalcanal in August 1942 (29:29). Marines march down a jungle road (29:56). Elsewhere, U.S. forces fire heavy artillery guns. Footage shows a naval battle at night in November 1942, with the firing of guns illuminating the dark night. U.S. forces invade North Africa during November 1942 (31:35). Navy ships fire guns on Axis warships. U.S. jeeps and supplies are unloaded from ships (32:20). A Navy ship is christened and put out at sea (33:30). The film shows more shots of newly built Navy combat ships leaving the docks, then concludes with footage of Navy ships at sea.

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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com