World War I in Color is a documentary (6 x 50-minute episodes) made with the cooperation of the Imperial War Museum, designed to make the Great War come alive for a 21st-century audience. The events of 1914-18 are authoritatively narrated by Kenneth Branagh, who presents the military and political overview, while interviews with historians add different perspectives. The human cost is conveyed by moving interviews with the now very elderly survivors, and by extracts from letters and memoirs. All aspects of the war, on land, sea and air are covered in separate programmes. Episode 4 In this episode we discover that there was only one major clash of fleets in World War 1. Instead, the war at sea was one of blockades and sinkings and a small but feared U-boat. By August 1914 Germany and Britain were building massive and expensive warships – the dreadnoughts. The British controlled the North Sea, and built up supplies by commandeering all goods heading for Germany. Britain’s survival depended on keeping her trade routes open, and for this reason Germany declared unrestricted submarine warfare on merchant shipping.

This episode of the excellent series “WW1 in Color” focuses on the war at sea