Drain the Ocean: World War II

Release Date: August 28, 2016

Watch Date: May 3, 2024

“World War II saw an enormous loss of ships and lives at sea. Now, new undersea surveys and 3-D imaging allow the waters to be ‘drained’ away and these sunken wrecks to be examined in detail. From the USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor’s shallows, to Nazi super-ship Bismarck 3 miles down, to the Allies’ D-Day landing and troopship Leopoldville, long-hidden secrets of the deep are revealed.”

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   I don’t have a lot to say about this.

   This documentary says at the forefront exactly what it’s going to do. It’s going to show you, somewhat dated, 3D models of sunken ships. It’s going to show a lot of reverse footage of waves. It’s going to answer some questions about each ship wreck. It’s going to do it in the exact order that it shows you, and it’s going to do it over dramatic music.

   And then it does it.

   In some ways, that’s refreshing, cause these 45 minute NatGeo documentaries where they’re trying to answer a question about a thing are usually mostly giving you information you already know and then telling you that the answers they found were inconclusive and further research is needed. And that’s…not a bad thing. That’s how science work. But it doesn’t always make for a very interesting documentary.

   They did spend a lot of time talking about the attack on Peal Harbor, which, as an American, Bob was extremely interested in. Apparently America shot first. I mean, Japan was still planning a gigantic surprise attack, but an act of war was performed by America first. And that was interesting. Changes very little and is clearly not a widely publicized fact, but still.

   May-Be Learn Some Shit month is off to a solid start. Let’s hope that we can keep managing to learn some shit.