Nazis, U-boats and the Battle for the Atlantic - Season 1

The longest campaign of World War II was fought in the Atlantic Ocean. Tens of thousands of lives were lost as Hitler's U-boat fleet hunted in packs, chasing down the Allied convoys that brought vital supplies to Britain.

The port of Derry played a vital role as the United Kingdom's most westerly base, and it was here that German U-boats were taken at the end of the war to officially surrender before being scuttled off Ireland's north west coast.

A specialist team of deep-sea divers are now searching for these wrecks, while historians unravel the dramatic clashes and human cost of the opening stages of this epic battle at sea.

World War II's longest campaign was fought in the Atlantic Ocean. Hitler's U-boats hunted in packs, chasing down the convoys which were bringing vital supplies to Britain. Churchill wrote that his greatest fear in the entirety of the war was the U-boat peril, and by the beginning of 1943, the Germans had the upper hand at sea. However, through a combination of new tactics, weaponry and heroic convoy commanders, the Allied forces began to fight back.

Throughout, the port of Derry played a pivotal role as the UK's most westerly base. Historians explore the story of a group of Irish merchant seamen who found themselves captured and enslaved in the horror of a Nazi labour camp.